


Home

by dwj



Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who (2005), Torchwood
Genre: F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-10-10
Updated: 2020-01-29
Packaged: 2020-12-07 16:13:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 24
Words: 54,878
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20978726
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dwj/pseuds/dwj
Summary: It's taken three years, but Rose Tyler is finally back in her own world. It wasn't the friend she was initially looking for, but how will she fit in when she lands in Cardiff and decides to stick around and join Jack and his team at Torchwood?





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! So here's the thing. I've been reading ff for years, i dabbled in writing years ago and it was very short lived. I've always loved both Doctor who and Torchwood and for whatever ridiculous reason wanted to try my hand at writing something. I don't even know how active these communities still are but i've had this thought for a while and wanted to get it down even if theres no interest. I know this has been done before, but i wanted to put my twist on it. I wanted a Torchwood/Dr Who crossover where Rose joins the team but has her own thing going on ya know? I wanted to make her apart of the team as opposed to just standing on the sidelines and watching the canonverse go by. I'm not a writer, so please correct my wrongs and advise me if you have ideas or things you do or don't like. This is unbeta'd, so all mistakes are my own.

**Chapter 1**

"What if this doesn't work?" Rose sighed as she adjusted her backpack whilst waiting for technicians to get the dimension cannon ready for its first test run.

"Its a chance I have to take." She said, looking over at her friend with determination in her eyes.

Rose and Jake had become close friends since she had arrived in the parallel world almost three years prior. She couldn't deny that during her time in Pete's world, she hadn't been happy. She had her mum, Pete, her younger brother as well as plenty of friends around her. But, despite all of these things, she never truly felt like she belonged there. Sure, working for Torchwood had its moments, but it would never compare to travelling through space and time, experiencing things even her colleagues could never dream of. She missed The Doctor, it had been a long three years and she couldn't bare to imagine how long it had been for him. He'd probably moved on by now, found another companion, maybe he even had a new face, and maybe she no longer even crossed his mind. None of this mattered to Rose, however, her determination to find her way back to her own world outweighed her fears of what she may find when she finally did return.

"You could end up anywhere! That's if the trip alone doesn't tear you apart, I know you've been working on this for a long time Rose, but you need to really think this through and decide if its worth risking your life for." The fear in Jakes voice wasn't something new to Rose, she had heard it all already.

Jackie had begged her to stay, even though she knew deep down that Rose would never truly be happy if she didn't at least try and return to where she felt she belonged. Mickey had long since learned that when Rose had her mind set on something, no one was going to stop her, least of all him. Pete, despite not being her biological father, saw her as his daughter and despite wanting nothing more than to be the father he wished she had growing up, he too knew Rose well enough to know that the best thing to do was support her as doing anything else was going to make little difference anyway.

"I'll be fine." Rose said with a smile.

Jake sighed and looked at his friend. He knew they'd be no way of changing her mind, he also knew that in the three years since she has arrived in his world, he'd never seen her as happy as when she found out they'd finally gotten a cannon up and ready for a trial run.

Rose took a few steps forward and Jake opened his arms to her. They held each other for a long moment, both digesting the thought that this could very well be the last time they would each other.

"Be safe." He whispered in her ear and she nodded before pulling back and looking him in the eye.

"And be happy." Rose smiled and nodded again before leaning in and kissing Jake on the cheek.

"Ready when you are, Miss Tyler." The technician called to her whilst making his way over with the dimension cannon. Rose let out a deep breath before moving back into position and taking the cannon from the technician.

"Thanks Charlie." She smiled at the young technician before looking back over at Jake.

"Wish me luck." He said. Looking down at the teleportation device in her hands, she took a deep breath and after giving Jake one last glance and a smile she squeezed her eyes shut and pressed the button on the cannon.

* * *

Rose felt like her breath had been taken away. After a loud crack had resonated in her ears, a sound she attributed to her arrival in whatever place she had ended up, she fell to her knees, hard. Gasping for breath, she dropped the dimension cannon which she felt as though was burning her hands and she opened her eyes for the first time since pressing the button. Looking around from her place on the ground, her eyes wide and filled with fear and uncertainty at where the dimension cannon had landed her, she let out a breath she hadn't realised she'd been holding when she noticed the buildings surrounding her. Buildings she recognised.

Slowly, Rose stood, wincing at the pain in her knees from when she had fallen upon her arrival. Taking a moment to collect herself, she looked to the sky and let out another breath. _No zeppelins. Could that mean?_ Looking again at her surroundings, Rose suddenly realised where she was. Cardiff. She appeared to be in Cardiff, and if the lack of zeppelins were anything to go by, she also appeared to be back in her own world.

_Home. _Tears filled Rose's eyes as it sank in that she may have actually done it. After three years. She was finally home.

* * *

Toshiko was sat at her desk, it was a slow day and so she was just monitoring local security cameras on the look out for anything suspicious. It was a blink and you miss it moment, and Tosh very nearly missed it. There was a flash, of what looked like electricity followed by the appearance of a young woman. If you didn't see the momentary flash, you'd think she was there the entire time. Tosh watched as the woman fell to her knees and gasped for breath before looking over at her other monitor. They hadn't received an alert about a breach in the rift. If this mystery woman hadn't come through the rift, then how did she get there, and where did she come from. She looked back to the monitor with the woman and was relieved to see that she was still there, the woman now stood and looking around.

"Jack!" She shouted to her boss who was currently residing in his office.

"You need to see this." At the sound of his name being called, Jack walked out of his office and made his way into the main area of the hub.

"What is it Tosh?" He asked, coming to stand behind his technician at her desk. Tosh pointed to one of her monitors and replayed the footage of Rose's arrival to Jack. He frowned when he saw the flash and his eyes widened as he saw a young woman appear as the light dissipated.

"Is she still there?" Jack questioned. Tosh set the cctv back to the present and nodded as she saw the young woman still standing in the Bay.

Jack nodded, and without another word walked over to the 'invisible lift'. He stepped onto the slab and activated the lift using his vortex manipulator on his wrist, letting out a long breath as he waited for the lift to reach the street. _It couldn't be. Could it?_ He didn't want to make any assumptions on who the young woman was until he saw her in person. Besides, it was impossible. She was _literally _a world away.

* * *

Rose was at a loss for what to do. She was still a little disorientated from her trip, and she also hadn't made a plan of what she was going to do if she ever actually made it back. She slipped her backpack off her back and bent down to retrieve the dimension cannon she had dropped when she arrived. It appeared burnt and showed no signs of still having power. _Great. _If she hadn't arrived in the right time, it appeared there was very little she would be able to do about it. She froze for a moment as she felt a presence nearby, it appeared to be early evening and there were very few people around. Rose looked around her but didn't see anyone, she felt as though someone was watching her. Shaking off the thought and deciding the best thing to do right now was at least to find out _when _she was, she picked up her backpack and slipped it back onto her back. She was about to leave the deserted area when she heard footsteps behind her.

Once the lift reached the street, Jack remained standing on the slab whilst he looked over at the young woman. He could hardly believe what he was seeing, or rather _who_ he was seeing. _Rose Tyler. _He watched as she looked around, obviously sensing his presence despite not being able to see him thanks to the perception filter. He stepped off the stab as Rose put her backpack back on and was about to leave. Jack took a few steps towards her but stopped when she turned around.

Rose's eyes widened as she set her gaze on a man she thought was dead. Tears filled her eyes as she took a small step towards her old friend.

"Jack?" His name escaped her lips as a breath, a small smile gracing her lips as she took further steps towards him.

Jack smiled. It really was her.

"Hey Rosie."


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So i was originally going to have this split into two chapters but i made it into one to get it over with. I want to get into the episodes but i also wanted there to be enough back story first just to give you guys an idea of how she came to join the team in the first place. The next chapter will be the start of series 1. I'd love some feedback whether it be good or bad, let me know what you do or don't like and what you'd like to see me include in my story.
> 
> Thanks!

_"_ _Jack?" His name escaped her lips as a breath, a small smile gracing her lips as she took further steps towards him._

_Jack smiled. It really was her. _

_"_ _Hey Rosie."_

* * *

** Chapter 2**

They barely registered their own movements until their bodies collided with one and another. Rose threw her arms around his neck as his own went around her waist. They held each other tight as though one of them might disappear at any moment if their grip loosened.

"It's really you." Rose whispered into his shoulder. Tears ran freely down her cheeks as she tried to bite back a sob, she was completely overwhelmed by everything that had happened in such a short space of time and was terrified that at any moment she would wake to find it all a dream.

Jack moved a hand from her waist and ran his fingers through her hair as he held her close. God he'd missed her. He had been so relieved when The Doctor had told him she was alive, but he had also said that she was trapped in a parallel world which had been sealed off forever. This was definitely Rose, his rose. She recognised him and she looked older than the last time he had seen her, so somehow she must have found her way home.

Rose loosened her grip but didn't let go of him as she pulled back slightly to look at him. He looked the same as when she had last seen him, if not slightly older. She took a deep breath as she tried to keep her emotions in check.

"I don't understand." She said with a frown.

"I thought.. I thought you were dead. On satellite five." Her words trailed off as she was hit with another wave of emotion.

"I'll explain everything, but let's get you off the street first ok?" Jack looked down at Rose and she nodded.

He let her go and took a step back, holding out his hand to her. She slipped the broken dimension cannon into her pocket and grasped Jack's hand tightly, allowing him to lead her towards the entrance to the hub.

"Where are we going?" Jack slowed his pace at her question and turned to look at her.

"Before I tell you, I need you to know that it's not the same as it was before. We may share the same name, but I swear to you Rose me and my team work everyday to make you and The Doctor proud."

Jack knew she'd be hesitant, The Doctor was too before he realised Jack was telling the truth about how different it was this time around.

Rose couldn't exactly be angry at Jack when she herself had worked at Torchwood in Pete's world and if it wasn't for them she wouldn't be back here in the first place. She squeezed his hand and gave him a small smile.

"I trust you Jack." Jack sighed in relief and returned her smile before picking up the pace and leading her down the dock to the information centre.

* * *

Jack guided her inside the tourist centre and she followed his lead in silence as she was led through another door and down a long hallway before they stepped through what looked like an entry way to a vault. Rose's eyes widened as they entered the hub, she could barely believe this entire base was hidden until the busy streets of Cardiff.

She could feel eyes on her as Jack led her through the hub. Jack's team abandoned their current tasks to watch in silence as their boss led a mystery blonde through the hub, Susie had a semi amused look on her face as she wondered if this was another of Jack's many conquests.

"We'll be in the conference room." Jack said without sparing a glance at any of his team. He ascended a spiral staircase and Rose followed, her hand still grasping his.

They entered the conference room and Jack closed the door behind them, with the hub being mainly open plan aside from the vaults and the archives, this was the most private place he could think of for him and Rose to discuss exactly what was going on.

Rose let go of Jack's hand as he closed the door behind them. Slipping her backpack off her shoulders, she set it down next to the door before pulling out one of the chairs at the conference table and sitting down. Jack mimicked her actions, pulling out another chair and sitting opposite her.

Rose rested her elbows on her knees and leaned forward slightly, looking at Jack with a look of both confusion and relief; relief at knowing her friend was alive, but also confusion at how it was possible.

"What happened?" It was a very loaded question and Jack took a deep breath before beginning the story of what exactly happened to him after satellite five.

Rose listened carefully as Jack explained to her how he had actually died but was brought back to life, something he would later find out was due to her looking into the heart of the TARDIS and becoming the bad wolf. Her eyes filled with tears as he revealed his apparent inability to die, this again caused by her. Jack reached forward and took on her hands in his own, squeezing it gently and giving her a reassuring smile. He never blamed her for what happened to him, and he'd had a lot time to not only come to terms with his ability to cheat death but to also come to appreciate it at times. Jack had turned his life around, he was now saving lives on a daily basis with a team he thought of as family and he had Rose to thank for that.

He told her how he had found The Doctor again, this being how he found out she was alive after believing for so long she had died at canary wharf. Rose tried to hide her sadness as Jack told her of The Doctors new companion and all they had been through together. Part of her couldn't blame him for finding someone new, she herself wasn't the first so she couldn't expect she'd be the last. Despite this though, she wondered if this was how Sarah Jane had felt after she had been abandoned only to be reunited decades later with The Doctor to find she had been all but forgotten.

Once Jack had finished filling Rose in on his life after satellite five, including how he came to be the head of this Torchwood branch it was her turn. Rose recalled the last three years of her life, how she herself had ended up working for the Torchwood in the parallel world if for little other reason than to find a way to get back here. She expressed her desire to get back to The Doctor, and whilst finding the man she loved was the main driving force behind her inventing the dimension cannon, she knew that whether she found her way back to him or not she would never truly have been able to find happiness in the parallel world. The revelation that The Doctor had all but moved on hurt her, despite knowing it was inevitable, but she found some comfort in knowing her efforts hadn't been completely for nothing as she had been reunited with her friend.

Jack hated to think her efforts had been for nothing, this girl had spent three years of her life fighting to get back to a man who was now travelling the stars with someone else. In the limited time Jack and Rose had spent together during his time on the TARDIS, they had become close and he couldn't hide his happiness at finally having her back in his life. He only hoped her feelings were mutual.

"Will you stay a while?" Jack asked hopefully, he wasn't sure if despite what she knew, Rose would still try and find The Doctor but hoped she would decide to stick around.

"You're all I have left Jack." Rose smiled sadly, leaning forward to embrace her friend.

"I'm not going anywhere Rosie." Jack hugged her back before pulling away slightly and smiling at her.

"Come and meet my team." Rose nodded and they both stood from their seats, Jack moved towards the door and opened it before walking out onto the balcony area. Jack headed back down the staircase and Rose followed as they made their way back into the main area of the hub.

* * *

Jack's team stopped pretending to work and looked back over at their boss as he came back down from the conference room with his mystery friend. Owen looked at Rose and shrugged, smirking to himself, she wasn't a bad looking girl and he wondered and only slightly hoped that maybe she'd be sticking around for a while.

"Rose Tyler, Owen Harper.." Jack gestured over to Owen and Rose gave him a small smile as she was introduced.

"_Doctor_ Owen Harper, thank you." Jack rolled his eyes and ignored Owen's comment as he continued with the introductions.

"Toshiko Sato computer genius."

"Suzie Costello, she's second in command."

"And this is Ianto Jones, he cleans up after us and gets us everywhere on time." Jack looked back at Rose and winked.

"He also looks good in a suit." Rose rolled her eyes and smiled, some things never changed.

She looked around at Jack's team and smiled.

"Hello."

"Rose is going to be sticking around for a while." Jack announced.

Suzie was the first to step forward and held her hand out for Rose to shake.

"Welcome to the team." She smiled. Rose returned the smile and shook Suzie's hand.

"I don't know about you Rosie, but I'm dying for a coffee," Jack looked over at Ianto who simply nodded in response before heading over to the coffee machine to make the team drinks.

"Sugar, Miss Tyler?" Ianto asked as he got to work making the others their usual beverages.

"Two, thanks Ianto.. And please call me Rose," Rose smiled at the young man who appeared to be a similar age to herself and he nodded.

Her return had produced a different outcome than she was initially expecting but despite all of this there was one thing Rose couldn't deny.

She was finally _home._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a quick extra a/n: This is addressed in a later chapter but I also wanted to add it now for any new readers. I'm aware that in this chapter I reference Jack already having met up with The Doctor and Martha, something I know doesn't happen until the end of season 1. I'm not planning on introducing The Doctor anytime soon and only made this a crossover because I added Rose, so as far as timelines are concerned I won't be keeping to the original timeline in DW. If I get as far as the final for this season then i will make the necessary changes so it remains canon for Torchwood. Thanks!


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi. So the show is officially on the road now so hopefully things will get a bit more interesting. Any quotes you recognise will be from the show, i'm tweaking things to incorporate Rose but obviously i'm trying to keep it as canon as possible so. Anyway, hope you guys like it. I'm friendly and welcome feedback whether it be good or bad so feel free to let me know what you think.
> 
> Thanks.

**Chapter 3**

**Everything Changes Part 1**

It had been a few months since Rose had arrived back in her own world and although it had taken her a while to get settled she was just beyond happy to be back. Shortly after her arrival, she and Jack had filled in the rest of the team on the events that transpired which landed Rose in the parallel universe in the first place as well as what her return meant. Her previous work with Torchwood made it easier for her to find her place work wise, and despite her initial worries she was welcomed warmly into the team.

Rose got on well with everyone in the team, she and Ianto had developed a sibling like connection, after finding out Rose had also been at the battle of Canary Wharf, there had been a number of times when he had confided in her when he felt he couldn't talk to the others. Suzie had taken Rose under her wing after she joined the team, having made few connections in Cardiff despite working for Torchwood for a number of years, she and Rose became quick friends. Tosh was fairly quiet and for the most part kept to herself, despite this Rose got on with the older woman fine and was made to feel welcome from her arrival. Owen was, well _Owen_. He acted like a dog in heat 99% of the time but Rose got on with him as well as everyone else when he wasn't making suggestive comments or staring at her ass. Jack and Rose had grown close throughout his time in the Tardis, and her devastation at his apparent death was something she never fully got over. Since finding each other again, she was glad to find he was equally as happy to have her back in his life as she was him and over the following months since her arrival, they had grown close once again and possibly even more so than before.

* * *

The black suv stopped a short distance from the crime scene. Jack, Owen, Tosh, Suzie and Rose exited the vehicle and made their way over to the body on the ground. Rose crossed her arms across her chest and frowned as she followed the team through the pouring rain, silently cursing whoever had done this for choosing a night when it was absolutely pissing it down - and obviously for committing murder in the first place - She stood in silence as Suzie opened her case and removed the glove, taking notes of the surrounding scene on her phone because a pen and paper would be useless in this weather.

Rose kneeled down next to Owen as Suzie slipped on the glove and tried to make the connection, it was freezing and although she didn't want to rush her friend she hoped she would be able to make quick work of the glove so they could get out of the rain. She looked up to the sky as the rain abruptly stopped, and then back down to the dead man as he suddenly opened his eyes and started rambling. Rose had seen the glove in action more than once since she joined this Torchwood but it never failed to surprise her.

She listened to Tosh trying to calm the man down, sighing as the poor man couldn't focus on anything other than the fact he was dead despite to him at least still appearing to be alive.

Leaning forward so she was in the man's line of vision, Rose gave him a small smile.

"Hey, look at me, we need you to stay calm ok?" She spoke softly, trying not to panic the young man anymore than he already was.

"Can you tell us what happened? Did you see who attacked you?"

"I didn't see anything." The panicked man told her and she sighed.

"The police said one stab wound in the back." Rose looked over at Owen as he spoke and then back at the man, if he was attacked from behind then there was little to know chance he had seen his killer at all.

"Thirty-seconds, don't waste it!" Suzie told the team. There was nothing more than could do apart from try and keep the man calm during his last moments.

Rose took the man's hand and gave him a reassuring smile.

"My name's Rose, what's yours?" Rose asked.

"John, John Tucker." Rose nodded, squeezing his hand gently.

"Not long left now John."

Jack stepped forward and kneeled down in front of the man, "Tell me John, what was it like when you died? What did you see?"

Rose glanced up at Jack and then looked back to John, fearing what his answer might be.

"Nothing, I saw nothing.. Oh my god, there's nothing." John rambled before their time ran out and he passed on once more, for good this time. Rose let go of his hand and wiped away a tear that began rolling down her cheek. She stood back up and sighed as it began pouring it down with rain again.

Ignoring Tosh and Owen's squabble, Rose looked up and noticed a woman watching them from one of the top levels of a multi storey car park nearby. Grabbing Jack's arm, she alerted him to the presence of their admirer.

"What do you think?" Jack shouted up to the woman. They watched as she realised she had been seen and disappeared from view.

"Are we gonna go after her?" Rose asked and Jack shrugged.

"I'll keep an eye on her. Let's get this stuff packed up and back to the hub." Rose nodded and helped the others pack up the equipment before carrying it back to the suv.

* * *

Rose and Jack raced up the stairs of the hospital, the others had taken another route. They were in a hurry to find and capture the weevil before it could harm anybody else. The pair ran down the corridor and started searching through the various offices on the floor, they had blocked off the entire floor earlier that day so it couldn't escape so they just had to track it down. There was a scream coming from the corridor they had just left and they all burst out in time to see the weevil sink his teeth into a man's neck.

Tosh sprayed a sedative in the face of the weavil as Suzie grabbed the creature and Owen threw a sack over its head.

"Get her out of here!" Jack yelled to Rose as he moved to assist to others in apprehending the weavil.

"Run!" Rose grabbed Gwen's arm and guided her down the corridor towards the exit to the stairs. She slammed the door behind them and Gwen stopped to look at Rose, her face pale.

"What was that?" Gwen asked.

"Doesn't matter." Rose replied, shaking her head.

"Are you alright?" She asked the police woman, looking her over to see if she had any visible injuries.

"No but really, What the hell was that?!" Gwen's voice was rising as she looked back at the door they had just come through.

"It doesn't matter." Rose repeated, it appeared this woman wasn't injured and was just in shock.

"Look we've got it from here, so just go back to work yeah?" Rose gestured towards the stairs and gave Gwen a small smile. When she didn't move, Rose sighed.

"Go!" The rise in Rose's voice snapped Gwen out of her state and she took off down the stairs, not looking back. Rose watched as she descended the stairs, and once she was certain she was clear of the area she headed back through the door and met back up with Jack and the others.

"What took you so long? We haven't got all day, Miss Tyler." Sarcasm dripped from Owen's voice as Rose caught back up with them. Rose resisted the urge to respond and rolled her eyes, following the others as they led the now semi conscious weevil out through a lesser known exit and towards the suv.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi! So, this chapter is fairly long. I didn't want to have to split the episode into four chapters if i could help it so we've got this and then they'll be one more chapter to finish off the episode before we move onto the next. As per, i hope you're enjoying it so far. Please feel free to review if you like it or even if you don't, always happy to take advice on board.
> 
> Thanks!

**Chapter 4**

**Everything Changes Part 2**

When they arrived back at the hub, Jack took the weevil down to the cells and Tosh got to work covering up the murder of the hospital porter. Rose sat down at her desk and began monitoring the local cctv, they knew Gwen had followed them back from the hospital and she wasn't surprised to find her still wondering around the area trying to find them. She looked up from her computer as Ianto set a fresh cup of coffee down on her desk.

"Thanks Ianto." Rose smiled at her friend, which he returned before heading off to the rest of the team with their drinks.

Rose took a sip of her coffee before turning her attention back to the screen, unsurprisingly the copper was still lingering around the area they had last been seen. Leaning back in her chair, she let out a small sigh as she wondered how long this woman was going to wonder around outside their base before she finally gave up.

* * *

Owen wondered by Rose's desk, mobile in hand. He hadn't been sure about the blonde at first, she had arrived literally out of nowhere and despite being filled in on her situation he wasn't initially convinced that she would be a positive addition to the team. She had proven herself on more than one occasion however to be an asset to the team and Owen had to admit he quite liked having her around, she was good at her job and her looks were a bonus.

"I'm ordering pizza, you want your usual?" Rose looked up from the screen at the sound of Owen's voice. It had been an early start thanks to the loose weevil in the hospital and she'd been too preoccupied keeping an eye on their new friend to think about eating before now.

"Please, Owen." She flashed her colleague a smile and he nodded, walking off to get everyone else's orders in.

It seemed Gwen had given up her search for the base as Rose watched her disappear from the area. Pushing her chair out from under her desk, she stood up and grabbed her coffee cup deciding a refill was in order. Making her way over to the coffee station, Rose found the area unoccupied and set to work making herself a fresh cup of coffee.

"Don't let Ianto catch you messing with his precious machine." Jack chuckled as he approached his friend.

Rose smiled and finished off making her drink before turning to Jack.

"Just be glad The Doctor isn't around, he'd have taken it apart and attached wings to it by now." She allowed herself a breath of a laugh at the thought of her old friend before a sad smile took over.

Jack couldn't begin to imagine how hard these few months had been for her, _hell _the last few years even. Rose had thought she coming home and although she had technically made it back, she hadn't made it back to the man she had longed to find and was now once again stuck. She appeared happy to have found him at least, but he couldn't help but feel like a consolation prize for the thing she really wanted.

Unsure of what to say and with no way of being able to make her true wish come true, Jack reached forward and took one of Rose's hands, tugging her towards him she went willingly and wrapped her arms around his waist. His arms went around her shoulders as she buried her face in his chest and he pressed a kiss to the top of her head, standing in silence whilst he allowed her to have a moment.

"She's back!" Rose looked up at the sound of Tosh's voice and took a small step back from Jack, letting out a breath she gave him a small smile which he returned.

"Back to work." She said quietly. They parted and Rose grabbed her cup of coffee before they both made their way over to Tosh's desk where she had the cctv up on one of her screens. Sure enough, the police officer was back, and this time she was carrying pizza boxes.

They watched as Gwen walked down towards the visitor centre. Jack looked up from the screen and across at Ianto.

"Care to welcome our guest?" He asked and Ianto nodded with a smile, making his way out of the main hub.

* * *

Rose resisted the urge to look up when she heard the hub door roll open, skimming over the random file she had open on her screen she tried to concentrate. She heard a snigger from across the room and could no longer hold in her laughter.

"Well that lasted nought point two seconds." Rose took a deep breath and tried to control her laughter as Suzie scolded the team.

"He set me off!" She pointed a finger over at Owen and let out another laugh as Jack explained his initial plan before they gave themselves away. Gwen looked like a deer caught in headlights and Rose felt sorry for the woman, she had no real idea what she had stepped into.

"You must have been freezing out there, how long were you walking around? Three hours.." Rose's words trailed off as she looked over at her.

"You could see me?" She seemed even more freaked out at the prospect of being watched and Rose nodded.

"Also, who the hell orders food under the name _Torchwood_?" Rose frowned as she asked the question, wondering who would be so stupid.

Owen raised his hand and Rose rolled her eyes. "Erm, yeah.. that'd be me, sorry.. I'm a twat."

Rose came to stand next to Suzie and crossed her arms across her chest as she listened to Tosh fill Gwen in on how they had dealt with the accident from earlier that day. She didn't agree with all of their methods, but knew that if people really knew what had happened to the porter then things would turn out a lot worse in the long run.

She watched as Jack led her down to the cells, curious as to what he had planned for her. Gwen knew near enough everything about them now, they could hardly let her leave with that knowledge. Rose admired her determination if nothing else, she had gone through great lengths to find out who they were and seemed more curious than scared.

* * *

Rose was back at her desk when Jack led Gwen back into the main hub, giving the woman a smile and a wave when Jack made the introductions.

After giving everyone their jobs for the morning, Jack looked over at Rose.

"Lets go for a drink." He then glanced over at Gwen "You too."

Rose nodded and got up from her chair, putting on her jacket as she followed Jack over to the lift.

"I'm getting tired of following you." Gwen huffed as she followed the pair.

"No you're not, you never will." She told the other woman with a grin as she stepped up next to them.

Rose held onto one of Jack's arms for support as the lift started rising and Gwen held his other. She looked down and gave Suzie a wave goodbye as they rose up to the street. After giving Gwen a brief explanation about the lift, the trio headed off to a local pub for a much needed drink.

* * *

Rose watched in amusement as Gwen took a large sip from her pint, Jack had opted for a glass of water and she went for a single vodka tonic. She took a small sip as Jack rattled off occurrences of alien invasions in order to convince Gwen that these things actually existed and weren't some sort of poisoned water mind control. At the mention of Canary Wharf, Rose's grip tightened around her glass and she took a deep breath as she tried to keep the memories from that day from filling her mind. Jack glanced over at Rose and sighed before looking back at Gwen.

"Fact is, these things really happened. The evidence is all there, what's it gonna take for you people to believe it?" He watched Gwen consider his words carefully, she was smarter than she gave herself credit for and she couldn't deny the things she had seen this past day even if she wanted to.

"So, you catch aliens?" She asked, her tone slightly less skeptical that it was.

"Yep." Jack nodded

"You're alien catchers." She said, glancing at Rose who nodded.

Gwen let out a breath and nodded. "And, who are you two then?" She asked.

"Captain Jack Harkness." Jack said, folding his arms and leaning back in his seat.

"And this is Rose Tyler." He added, nodding his head in Rose's direction.

"I did some research, there's only one Captain Jack Harkness on record and he disappeared in nineteen forty one." Jack smiled at this revelation.

"Well, that couldn't be me, could it?" He asked, glancing at Rose who smiled at him in return, the memory or their first meeting filling both of their minds.

Jack looked back at Gwen and leaned forward in his seat, his face turning serious.

"Look, we don't just catch aliens, we scavenge the things they leave behind and find ways of using it, arming the human race for the future."

"The twenty first century is when everything changes, and you've got to be ready." Rose added.

Gwen seemed to be taking this all pretty well, Rose thought. She still wasn't sure what Jack's plan was but she made a note to mention the possibility of her liaising with them, their work went well beyond the police but it never hurt to have someone on the inside that could help them out if they ever needed it.

"So go on then, how the hell did you end up in Cardiff?" Gwen asked with an amused smile.

"Well, this is Torchwood three.. One was London, destroyed in the battle." At the mention of the battle, Jack reached over and gave Rose's knee a gentle squeeze, her hand covered his and she returned the gesture.

"Torchwood two is an office in Glasgow, very strange man." Jack continued with a small chuckle.

"Torchwood four has kind have gone missing, but we'll find it one day." He finished.

"So you just fancied Cardiff?" Gwen asked, wondering why anyone would choose to set up a base for catching aliens and the like in a place like Cardiff.

"There's a rift through space and time running straight through the city, the creature you saw earlier, the weavil, they didn't come to earth in a space ship." Jack explained, gesturing his hands as he spoke to try and make her understand.

"They kind of just, sort of slipped through. All sorts of things get washed up here." He told her with a small shrug.

"Sounds like Cardiff." Gwen said with a small laugh.

"Hey, don't knock it, I'm a citizen." He returned with a chuckle.

"But where are you from?" She asked, glancing between the pair.

"Everywhere." Rose answered with a smile.

Gwen explained her hopeful plan of liaising with them, something which Rose was also wondering about.

_Or not, _she thought when Jack shot down the idea.

"Well that's tough shit, because if you let me go then I have a duty to tell them what you've got because that glove, it could help us." Rose frowned at Gwen's words.

"Is that a _threat_?" She asked, it was clear Gwen had good intention but still, Rose didn't appreciate being threatened.

Jack shrugged, a smirk gracing his lips as he spoke. "If you remember.. How's your drink?"

Rose watched as panic crossed Gwen's face, when Jack had first told her of his plan to slip her an amnesia pill she hadn't completely agreed with it. Although, seeing how this ended up panning out, she could see why he wanted to take the precaution.

"Have you poisoned me?" Gwen asked and Rose had to resist the urge to roll her eyes at the dramatic question.

"Don't be so dramatic, it's an amnesia pill." Jack explained with a small smile.

"My own recipe, you'll wake up tomorrow with no memory of Torchwood or us." Gwen eye's widened at his words, standing from her seat at the bar she rushed out of the pub.

Rose and Jack followed her out into the street, coming to a stop as Gwen turned to face them.

"Don't think you can fight it by staying awake, I mixed in a little bit of sedative too." Jack explained.

"Then I'll tell someone." Gwen shot back.

"Really? Do you really want us to come after them too?" Rose didn't believe Jack would actually harm anyone should Gwen actually tell, either still she hoped the woman wouldn't be stupid enough to test that theory.

Gwen backed up a few steps as he spoke, she wasn't sure if the pill was already taking effect or if it was just her panic making her feel slightly lightheaded.

"You bastards!" She shouted at the pair.

"Hey, language!" Jack yelled back,

"It was nice knowing you Gwen Cooper." Jack gave her one more glance before taking Rose's hand and walking off in the opposite direction.

"That went well." Rose said with a hint of sarcasm in her voice.

Jack chuckled and released her hand before putting an arm around her shoulders and pulling her close. "What do you say we grab a proper drink?"

Rose smiled and nodded, putting an arm around his waist.

"Sounds good to me."


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi, I hope y'all are enjoying the story so far. This is the last chapter for the first episode, it's fairly long but I didn't want to split it into two chapters. Let me know what you think, feel free to leave me a comment on what you like/don't like and if you have any ideas for future chapters.
> 
> Thanks!

**Chapter 5**

**Everything Changes part 3**

It had been a pretty uneventful few days, no new murders so no opportunities for them to use the glove. There had been no new rift activity and despite keeping an eye out just in case, Gwen Cooper hadn't been seen anywhere near Torchwood. Rose didn't doubt the effects of the amnesia pill, but Gwen seemed like a smart woman so she didn't want to underestimate her.

Everyone was getting ready to leave for the night, when Rose had arrived back in her world a few months back, she had nothing but the clothes on her back and a few essentials she could fit in her backpack. She had no way of making arrangements for her arrival because it was by complete chance she managed to get back in the first place. The flat she shared with her mum was long since gone and she wasn't sure how she'd go about finding herself a place to live as to this world she had died in the battle of Canary Wharf. Sure, she had the money but she was also a dead woman.

Thankfully she had Jack. He not only offered her a place on his team, but also a place to live. Torchwood had two fairly small but furnished en suite rooms located down a short corridor through Jack's office. It was clear that this minimal but functional staffing area had been created when it was necessary to always have someone on site, this wasn't the case these days with the handheld technology they now had but Jack had made himself at home there and Rose had since done the same.

Tosh and Owen were packing up their stations as they prepared to leave, Suzie had already left a few minutes prior saying she was meeting a friend and would see everyone in the morning. Rose was doing one last sweep on the monitors before shutting them down for the night when she caught site of Gwen, it was far too late for it to be passed off as an evening stroll and she also appeared to be by herself. She decided to watch the woman to see what she was doing, unlike the last time she didn't appear to be heading towards any particular area which made Rose think that although the amnesia pill worked, they may be some residual memories drawing her back to the area.

Rose leaned back in her seat and watched the woman on her screen, Gwen seemed to be wondering aimlessly by the water tower and she was about to just call it a night as wondering seemed to be all she was doing when another figure emerged from out of the shadows. _Suzie._ Rose frowned as she watched her friend approach Gwen, _what was she doing? _She then watched as Suzie appeared to take something out of her bag, _was that? A knife?!_

"Jack!" Rose yelled as she continued to watch the scene unfold, she couldn't understand why Suzie was talking to Gwen in the first place, let alone brandishing a knife at the same time.

Jack came running as soon as he heard the panic in Rose's voice, he stopped behind her and looked down at the monitor. Without a word he headed straight for the invisible lift, activating it with his wrist device.

Rose wanted to go with him but she didn't want to overreact if this was all just a misunderstanding. Maybe Suzie wanted to liaise with the police like she had initially wanted to, it didn't really explain the knife but there had to be a logical reason behind it. She and Suzie had become good friends since her arrival and she had never done anything to make Rose think badly of her. She couldn't see Jack on the screen but she knew he was up there with them. Her confusion quickly turned to fear as Suzie swapped the knife for a gun, this time pointing it at Gwen. _What the hell was going on? _Rose was starting to wonder at what point Jack was going to intervene when all of a sudden Suzie pointed the gun towards the position she knew Jack would be standing and pulled the trigger. Jack appeared out of nowhere as he fell to the ground, a gunshot wound to the head.

Shock at what she had just witnessed quickly gave way to adrenaline, she was out of her seat and running towards the exit. Ignoring Owen's _Where's the fire?_ quip as she passed his desk, she was out of the door and down the corridor not slowing down or stopping as she ran through the visitor centre and finally out into the street. Her feet pounded across the pavement as she ran as fast as she could towards the water tower.

She arrived at the scene just as the confrontation was reaching it's climax. Jack was alive, standing in front of Suzie whilst Gwen was stood a short distance away. Suzie no longer had the gun trained on Gwen and for a moment Rose thought that Jack might have this under control. It all happened so fast and no one had any time to react before Suzie pointed the gun at herself and pulled the trigger. Rose gasped and Jack looked back at the sound, she met his gaze with tear filled eyes and closed the remaining space between them. Gripping Jack's arm, she looked down at their friend lying in a pool of her own blood and took a deep breath, trying to hold back the sob threatening to escape. At the shock at what had just happened, Rose almost forgot the events that led up to this moment. She looked over at Gwen, sat on the ground with her head in her hands, crying with what Rose could only imagine was a mix of relief and shock.

Releasing her hold on Jack's arm, Rose wondered over to where Gwen was sat and crouched down next to her.

"Hey, its over, you're safe now." Rose spoke softly, putting an arm around Gwen's shoulders.

* * *

Jack had asked Rose to keep an eye on Gwen whilst he and the others dealt with Suzie's body, something she was incredibly grateful for. She was barely keeping herself together, so dealing with somebody else gave her the distraction she needed to put her own emotions on the back burner for now. Rose had taken Gwen to Jack's office, guiding the woman over to a seat before she perched herself on the edge of his desk. Crossing her arms across her chest, Rose chewed her bottom lip as she tried to think of something to say to the woman sat across from her.

"Whats happens now?" Gwen asked. Her tears had long since stopped, she now just looked tired and scared.

"I don't know." Rose answered honestly with a small shrug.

"Are you going to erase my memory again?" Her voice was quiet, but Rose could sense the fear behind her words.

Shaking her head, Rose sighed. She had thought they were doing the right thing by retconning Gwen the first time, it had been for both her own safety and the security of Torchwood. But Gwen was a smart woman, and even without Suzie's interference (_to put it lightly) _Rose had little doubt that the memories they had taken from her would have eventually returned.

Jack and the others filed into the office in silence, Ianto was holding the resurrection glove and the knife Suzie had had earlier and Rose watched him as he took them both and put them into a secure container before locking it and filing it away. Jack came to stand next to Rose, he covered one of her hands with his own and gave it a small squeeze. She glanced up at him and met his gaze, not quite managing even a small reassuring smile, she turned the hand he had covered and returned the squeeze.

After a look from Jack, Tosh took an item out of her bag and placed it on his desk before stepping back. Owen sighed before removing something from the inside of his jacket and doing the same. Rose wasn't quite sure what the items were, but assumed they were of alien origin.

"Everyone go home, I'll see you all in the morning." Jack's tone was neutral but they didn't need to be told twice. He waited until Owen, Tosh and Ianto had left the office before looking over at Gwen.

"Will you take a walk with us?" He asked.

Rose stood up from her perch and looked to Gwen for her response. She remained silent but nodded and rose from her seat. Jack gave her a small reassuring smile before taking Rose's hand and leading her out of the office, Gwen following behind.

The trio headed back out into the street, the sun now beginning to rise on a new day. They came to a stop, the area completely deserted except for them. Gwen had remained silent for a short time, trying to arrange her thoughts and make sense of everything that had happened.

"She shot you in the head, and you survived." Gwen's voice broke the silence as she glanced at Jack.

Jack nodded, feeling Rose's grip on his hand tighten slightly as events of the previous night were retold.

"You didn't tell the others." She pointed out. The lack of reaction on Rose's part led Gwen to believe at least she was already aware of this _super power_ or whatever it was that he had.

"Neither did you, you followed my lead." Jack replied with a small smile.

"Keep doing that and you might just get through this." He continued.

Gwen sighed, none of this made any sense. At any point she half expected to wake up, these events all being dream caused by the concussion she had received days before.

"But she killed you!" She saw it happen, she watched him get shot in the head and minutes later get back up as if nothing had happened.

"I can't die." If everything that had happened in the last few hours hadn't happened, she might have actually laughed.

"Ok.." She responded with another sigh.

"No, really, I can't." He told her.

"Something happened to me a while back, long story and far away." He glanced at Rose briefly as he spoke before looking back at Gwen.

"I was killed, then I was brought back to life and ever since then.. I can't die."

Gwen frowned, it just didn't make any sense.

"But, how?" She asked.

"It's complicated." He said with a sigh.

"Nothing kills you?" She wondered what the extent of this _ability _was, could this man literally survive anything?

"It kind of freaks people out, so, best if you don't say anything."

"Doesn't matter anyway, you'll only wipe my memory again." She mused.

"Why would I do that?" His words caused her to give him a slightly surprised and skeptical look.

"Torchwood's got a vacancy, a job going spare, do you want it?" He just continued to surprise her.

Rose looked up at Jack as he made Gwen the offer, she knew what Suzie had done and what she had nearly done but it didn't change the fact that she had been her friend and she hated the idea that her job was now being offered out as if it were a game of musical chairs.

"But, what do you need me for?" Gwen didn't understand what she could bring to the table, she worked for the police but he had already told her the work they did was way above her pay grade.

"Because maybe you were right, we could do more to help." He told her.

Rose didn't entirely disagree, she could be a good addition to the team but she also couldn't replace Suzie. What she had done in the lead up to her death, the murders just so they had a reason to use the glove, it made her sick. Rose was having a hard time dealing with the secret life of her friend, combined with her death and now her speedy replacement.

"What do you think, wanna join up?" He asked with a grin. It only took Gwen a moment before she agreed and neither Jack or Rose could say they were surprised.

"Well, it's been one hell of a night. Gwen Cooper, go home and get some rest and we will see you tomorrow morning." It really had been one hell of a night, he'd barely had time to check in with Rose and knew that she had been putting on a strong front for Gwen's sake.

Gwen nodded, smiling at both of them before taking her leave. She'd come up with an excuse to Rhys as to why she had been out all night again, and the next day she would start her new job.

Jack watched Gwen leave before looking down at Rose.

"You ok?" He squeezed her hand and she looked up at him, nodding her head as she flashed him the ghost of a smile.

She wasn't ok and he knew that, but she wasn't going to let herself fall apart yet. The pair made their way back to the hub, neither saying anything as they headed in through the visitor centre and down the long corridor. They remained silent as they walked through the hub, passing through Jack's office. Rose and Jack both had separate bedrooms but neither particularly wanted to be alone after the events of the previous evening so there was no protest as Jack led Rose into his room and shut the door behind them. He removed his coat and she did the same with her jacket, leaving them both on a chair by the door before they kicked off their shoes and got straight into bed. Not bothering to undress any further, they lay atop the covers, Jack holding Rose close as she rested her head in the crook of his neck and stretched an arm across his stomach.

"Let it out Rosie." He said quietly, pressing a kiss to the top of her head.

His words combined with the safety she felt from being in his arms was enough for the dam of emotions she had built to break. Tears fell quicker than she had time to process and a sob escaped her as she turned her head to hide her face in his neck. She cried for the friend she had lost, she cried for the betrayal she felt at her friends actions, she cried for the poor victims that died just so they could use a stupid piece of alien tech.

Jack ran his fingers through Rose's hair, his own silent tears spilling down his cheeks as he held her tight. Suzie had worked for him for years, her actions had shocked him and he couldn't help but blame himself for the path she had gone down. He would try harder to guide his team, and he hoped Rose would remain at his side to help guide him too.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello, so this is one of my least favourite episodes but I hope I'm doing it justice anyway. I'm trying my best to write Rose in as though she were canon without just giving her lines from other characters but sometimes its difficult. I'm hoping to have this episode wrapped up in the day few days and then we'll move on to some of my favs. As per, I hope you're enjoying the story so far, feel free to leave me a comment letting me know what you do/don't like.
> 
> Thanks!

**Chapter 6**

**Day One Part One**

It had been almost a week since the whole incident with Suzie, they’d had to make arrangements to have Gwen moved from the police force to _special ops _and so her first official day at Torchwood would be the next day. Everyone was having trouble coming to terms with what had happened, the news that their friend and work colleague had been behind several murders simply to make use of their alien tech and had subsequently committed suicide to avoid paying for her crimes had shaken them all.

It was early evening when the alerts started coming in, a ball of fire had been seen hurtling across the sky before crash landing on the outskirts of town. Meteorite? _Probably. _Alien? In Cardiff?_ More than likely. _The team grabbed the necessary equipment before setting off to asses the scene themselves, Jack thought it would be a good idea to bring Gwen along for her first official case as part of the team and sent her a message to arrange to pick her up en route.

Rose didn’t dislike Gwen, she barely knew the woman for a start. It had been a hard week and it would take her some time to look past her as simply being Suzie’s replacement. They arrived at the scene and all headed down towards the area that had been cordoned off and was already being monitored by the military, Rose had just made it through the secured area when she remembered that she had left her case back in the suv. She called out a quick _I’ll be right there _that she assumed fell on deaf ears as everyone continued on without acknowledging her before running back to the vehicle and grabbing her things. She was let back through the makeshift gate and headed down into the tent where the others had already gone, only to be met by several military officers swanning about the place trying to look busy. Trying to make her way through she was almost instantly stopped by one of the officers.

“Who the hell are you?” She had barely gotten a word out before she was confronted by another officer.

“This areas restricted.” Rose sighed and looked through the crowd in hope of catching site of a familiar face.

“It’s alright, I’m special ops.” She explained which only gained her blank stares in return.

“Torchwood.. I’m with Torchwood.” She continued.

“Don’t mess with me little girl, you’re not with Torchwood.” Rose had to resist the urge to roll her eyes at the officer. She was about to return a snide remark of her own when Jack appeared behind the officers.

“Now first of all, she’s no little girl.” Jack started, glancing over at Rose with a small smirk.

“From where I’m standing, all the right curves in all the right places.” Rose did roll her eyes at this comment, hiding her smirk as he continued.

“But she is Torchwood, we both are, and we’d appreciate if you’d leave us to do the real work.” He finished, holding out his hand to her.

Rose smiled and took his hand, letting him lead her through the tent and out towards the meteorite. She followed the trail down to the others and set her case down, getting out the necessary equipment to assist in trying to identify what the rock actually was.

“Make yourself useful sweetheart, pass us the big chisel from the toolbox.” Owen called over to Gwen.

He had tried the nicknames with Rose when she had first arrived and although annoying, he was mostly harmless and she had quickly gotten used to shutting him down with retorts of her own.

“Not sweetheart.. Gwen? One syllable, sure you can manage it.” Gwen replied.

“Not sweet cheeks? Freckles? New girl?” He continued.

Rose rolled her eyes and was about to tell him to quit it when Gwen responded. With a smirk she went back to her analysis, stopping only moments later when she saw the chisel Owen had requested now sticking out of the rock. Taking a step back from the meteorite, she frowned as she watched gas begin to pour out of the crack. Thinking quickly, Jack threw everyone a gas mask just as a thick pink gas escaped through the crack and drifted above them. Rose held the mask to her face and looked at the gas, it floated above them almost as if it was watching them before shooting up into the sky and disappearing. She waited until Jack gave them the all clear before removing her mask and looking over at Gwen.

“I am so sorry.” Gwen told them, guilt evident in her voice.

“Well done new girl.” Owen replied with a sigh and Gwen felt far too shocked and guilty at what she had just done to even think about giving him grief for the nickname.

“Finish collecting what you can and let’s get back to the hub.” Jack told his team.

Everyone rushed to finish what they were doing, they had no idea what the gas was and if it was dangerous so they needed to work quickly in order to find it before it caused any harm.

Once everyone was done they packed away their things and made their way back out to the suv. The team moved in silence, Gwen being the only one to break it as she apologised again for what she had done.

“Look, it’s done now yeah? You made a mistake but apologising isn’t going to change it, lets just get back to the hub and we’ll figure everything out there.” Rose didn’t mean to snap at Gwen, she too had made her fair share of mistakes, the consequences of which she would have to live with but it had been a tough week and she couldn’t stop the thought that had Suzie still been around this wouldn’t have happened from evading her mind.

Gwen mumbled another apology as she followed the group back to the suv. The drive back to the hub was tension filled and silent, Gwen felt it best she not say anything lest she make the situation any worse than she already had.

* * *

Walking through the hub with their cases, they made their way down to the medical area so they could analyse the rock sample Owen had collected from the site.

“I really am sorry, like really sorry.” Gwen started again as she followed behind Jack.

“Seriously, stop saying that.” He responded with a sigh.

“But I am, really, really sorry.” She continued, looking at the others as they walked past her.

“Didn’t they teach you health and safety in the police?” Owen asked.

“You two chucked tools at each other so I..” She trailed off with a sigh.

“We didn’t miss.” He told her, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

Rose felt guilty for her earlier snap at Gwen, it was the woman’s first day and whilst trying to find her place in the team she had made a mistake. Rose knew what it was like to be the new girl, she also remembered how overwhelmed she had felt when she had first joined The Doctor and discovered what was really out there in the world. She came to stand next to Gwen as Owen continued his tirade and shot him a look.

“Give her a break.” She told him.

“God, this has been the worst first day ever.” Gwen would have laughed at the ridiculousness of it all if there wasn’t the possibility of the gas actually being harmful.

“We all make mistakes, get over it. Now we find and recover whatever came out of there.” Jack said whilst opening the case to reveal the large sample of rock Owen had brought back from the site.

They were about to begin further tests on the rock when Ianto appeared above them with information pertaining to a death that may be connected to the gas, Rose walked up the steps and he handed her the file to read over whilst he filled the others in on the details.

“Right, shall we get going?” Rose asked, looking up from the file and across at Jack who nodded in response.

* * *

They arrived at the club and Jack parked the suv across the street before getting out and heading across the road and into the club. The others followed suit, passing the police officers monitoring the scene as they all headed inside. They were met by the security guard who led them into the bathroom to show them what they assumed was the body.

The guard gestured to the pile of sand on the floor in front of the counter and Rose frowned.

“This is all that’s left?” Gwen asked. Rose glanced over at her as she spoke before looking at the guard for confirmation.

“How is that possible?” He asked them, clearly in shock.

“Question is, how do you know that used to be a body?” Jack asked.

The guard then explained how he had been monitoring the cctv when he had come across a young couple getting it on in the ladies toilet, it seemed like the usual drunken shag until all of a sudden the guy _exploded. _He then told them how he went down to check the toilets and that’s when he found the pile and sand and called the police.

“We need to see that cctv.” Jack told him and he nodded, gesturing for them to follow him as he left the toilets and led them to the security room.

* * *

They all watched in shock as the young man did actually appear to explode into bright particles, which seemed to be absorbed by his partner before his remains were left in sand form on the floor.

“He just..” Rose’s words trailed off, she had seen a lot of things in her time travelling with The Doctor and from working at Torchwood but _this _was new.

“Came and went.” Jack finished with a smirk, with earned a snort from Owen and an eye roll from Rose.

They thanked the guard for his help before heading out, Jack instructing the others on what to do in regard to covering up the death of the man.

“You have a stash of bodies?” Gwen asked with a raised voice.

There were a lot of protocols that Rose didn’t agree with, she understood the necessity and it was something you just learned to deal with and came to accept as part of the job.

“You get used to it.” Rose told her with a reassuring smile, following the direction Jack had taken.

“But what about his family? You can’t just fake his death!” She continued, following behind.

“You want to tell his family he died screwing an alien?” Jack called back to her.

Rose made a face at his choice of words, but he wasn’t exactly wrong. They ventured further down the alley as he followed the readings on his scanner, the area had the same elements as from the crash site and the club but for some reason they were stronger here. Luckily there was a cctv camera on the opposing building so they headed over so they could find out exactly what had happened.

* * *

They watched as the girl from the club stepped out of a side door and began talking on her phone, she seemed upset with whoever she was speaking with. The pink gas appeared and after backing the girl against the wall it seemed to take over her body. The girls demeanour changed as she disappeared back out of the alley and they assumed back into the club where she had found her first victim.

“It’s all my fault, if it wasn’t for me he’d still be alive.” Gwen stated with a sigh as Jack turned off the video and removed the tape.

Rose put a hand on Gwen’s arm, she knew exactly the other woman was feeling. She had sympathised with a Dalek, her actions had gotten countless innocent people killed and it was something she would never forget or be able to forgive herself for.

“Blaming yourself won’t do you any good.” She told her, completely hypocritically but wanting to make her feel better nonetheless.

“At now we know a little more, the alien has taken on a host body.” Jack added, placing the video tape in a pocket inside his coat.

“We can’t let her kill again.” Gwen told them.

Rose nodded in silent agreement as she left the room and headed back out to the suv to meet the others and head back to the hub, Jack and Gwen following suit.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi, so i was hoping to have this episode written and uploaded a few days ago but i've been pretty busy with work and i've had trouble with this one as its not one of my favourites. I ended up splitting this into two chapters as it got too long but alas its finally done. I hope you all like it, as usual please feel free to review and let me know your thoughts.

**Chapter 7**

**Day One Part 2**

Back at the hub they were all working to try and track down the host before she could kill anyone else, Jack was using a sonic device to scan what looked to be some sort of space atlas.

"What's that supposed to do?" Gwen asked, referring to the sonic device he had in his hand.

"I'm using satellite tracking data to determine the in ward trajectory of the meteorite." He explained.

"Basically he's trying to find out where it came from." Tosh added with a smirk.

"Hey! Sometimes a little techno babble is good for the soul." He shot back as he continued his search.

Rose rolled her eyes, folding her arms across her chest as she watched him from her place leaning against one of the walls in his office.

"You sound just like The Doctor." She told him, flashing him her signature tongue in teeth grin when he looked over at her with a grin of his own.

"Rhys, my boyfriend he's a transport manager, he does this sort of stuff just on a smaller scale." Gwen said with a smile.

"You have a boyfriend?" Rose asked. It had been a long time since she had been close enough to anyone to call them her boyfriend, even when she and The Doctor were together nothing had ever been official and since Canary Wharf she had been far too busy trying to find her way back that she hadn't even thought about finding someone.

"Yeah, have you?" Gwen replied with a smile.

Rose shook her head, her gaze flickered over to Jack momentarily before returning to Gwen and offering her a small smile.

"No, don't really have time with this job." She explained with a shrug. Gwen asked the others in tern and seemed quite surprised that she was the only person in a relationship.

"None of you have partners?" She asked again, surprised.

"Just you." Owen told her.

"I'm not being rude or anything, or maybe I am but, how do you switch off from all this stuff? How do you all relax?"

Her question earned her blank stares, how could they tell her that once you worked here long enough even being in a relationship wasn't enough to fully enable you to clear your mind of the things you saw at work when you weren't even there.

"I torture people in happy relationships." Owen said with a smirk.

"Leave her alone, Owen." Rose told him with an eye roll.

The team filtered out of Jack's office and to their respective desks, hoping they'd be able to find the girl in their database.

* * *

They were using the only image they had of the girl in order to try and find out her identity, it was a grainy shot from the club cctv but it was the best they had.

Ianto was doing his rounds with cups of coffee and Rose smiled her thanks when he passed her a cup, she was stood next to Owen's desk watching as his computer scanned through millions of images trying to find a match.

"One hundred and nineteen suspects? This things supposed to give us a single clear match." Owen announced with a sigh.

"The cctv was too low res, I've tried magnifying and augmenting and it just breaks up, which means the software can't function properly." Tosh replied with a small shrug.

"What about the finger prints I pulled off the alley wall?" Gwen asked hopefully.

Tosh ran the prints, which unsurprisingly came back with no results.

"It was a long shot." Gwen said.

"Yeah, just a bit." Owen mumbled.

His comment earned him a punch in the arm from Rose, it wasn't hard by any means but he still looked at her in surprise and mild annoyance.

"Oi, what was that for?" He asked with a frown.

"You're a real dick sometimes you know that? I also don't see you making any progress either." Rose told him bluntly.

Jack made his way over and came to stand next to Gwen and Tosh at Tosh's desk.

"The cctv must have picked up her arrival at the club, Tosh can you reformat the facial recognition software and trace her journey backwards via the street camera network?" He asked as though it was the easiest thing in the world.

"I can give it a go but it'll take a while, we're talking hundreds of thousands of probabilities."

"Have a go, at least we'll know where she started the evening." Tosh nodded and got to work.

"We could cross reference that with the addresses of the known face matches?" Gwen suggested.

They did just that and it didn't take long before they found a positive match, a girl by the name of Carys Fletcher. Making a note of her address they grabbed the necessary equipment and headed out, hoping they could reach her before she killed anybody else.

* * *

Jack kicked open the front door to Carys' house and stormed in with his gun raised, Rose followed behind him whilst the others burst in through the back. They arrived just in time as they found Carys straddling who looked to be the postman.

"Put your trousers on and get out." Rose told the man, her gun pointed at Cerys.

"Now!" Jack yelled as the man hesitated, he then got up and quickly put his trousers back on before running out of the house.

"We're safe." Tosh announced after doing a scan to see if they were at risk of being infected by the alien.

They all took their masks off and Carys took the opportunity to make a run for it, Gwen barely had time to react to Jack's shout as she ran past and out into the hallway. Running after her, they all stopped as she appeared to have been trapped inside some kind of force field.

"What the hell is that?" Rose asked, she'd seen a lot of strange alien gadgets but this one was new to her.

"It's a sort of inflatable cell, powers down after an hour though." Owen explained.

"Who said you could use that?" Jack asked, his voice rising.

"Erm, I just stopped a prisoner from escaping." He replied with a frown, not quite understanding his boss' hostility as he had literally stopped a murderer from escaping.

"You know the rules, none of this stuff leaves the building without my expressed permission." Jack continued, after what had happened with Suzie and the glove he didn't want to take any chances when it came to his team.

Jack powered down the cell via his wrist device and Rose stepped forward, grasping Cary's forearms and leading her through the house and out to the suv. Jack picked up the now dormant device which looked a lot like a seashell and put it in his pocket, giving Owen a look before following the others.

* * *

They arrived back at the hub with Carys, Rose had one hand on the young girls back and another grasping her arm as she led her inside.

"See what you can find out from her." Jack said looking at Gwen who was stood next to Rose.

Gwen looked like a deer in the headlights as she was given her task.

"Aren't you going to help me? I don't know what I'm doing?" She asked looking at Jack with a surprised expression.

"It's usually best if you don't say that in front of the prisoner." Rose told her with a small smile.

Rose waited until Gwen had hold of Carys in case she decided to try and make a run for it again before taking a step away.

"You'll be fine." She reassured her, giving her another smile before she wondered off towards her desk. She was curious to see how Gwen would handle this situation by herself, being a police officer she imagined it couldn't be a far stretch from something she had done before.

* * *

Rose was sat at her desk, she was going through reports from the crash site to make sure nothing else had come out of the rock since the alien gas had been released. She looked up from the screen as Owen called them all over, rising from her seat with a frown she made her way over to his desk.

"Treat." Owen told the others with a smirk, gesturing to the screen.

Her eye's widened in surprise at what they were watching, the copper had some _interesting_ interrogation techniques.

"We should really get her out of there." Tosh said.

Jack and Rose nodded in agreement, although for another few moments they all continued watching the scene playing out on the screen.

"Lets go." Rose announced, suddenly remembering this prisoner was currently possessed by an alien and had already killed one person and attempted to kill another.

Rose, Jack and Tosh quickly made their way down to the vaults to make sure Gwen was ok. When the arrived she was thankfully out of the cell and appeared to be on the phone. She gave them a small smile and a thumbs up to indicate she was fine and they nodded before heading back up in the main area of the hub.

* * *

Gwen emerged from the vaults and was welcomed with dramatic clapping from Owen.

"Well done newbie, that is what I call a methodical investigation." He told her with a smirk.

Rose was standing a short distance away and was about to intervene when Gwen suddenly had Owen by the throat against a wall. He had a tendency to be an egotistical prick and watching someone put him in his place, _literally _made a nice change. In the end it was Jack who stepped in, parting the pair just as Ianto announced he'd bought dinner.

Work was momentarily forgotten as they all headed up to the conference room to eat. Jack retold stories as they ate, earning laughs and a welcome break from the tension that had hung in the air before between Gwen and Owen.

Jack excused himself for a bathroom break and as soon as he was gone Tosh and looked over at Gwen.

"So what's he told you?" Owen asked, taking a swig from him beer.

"About what?" Gwen replied.

"Himself." Tosh added.

"You've both been here longer than I have and you're asking me?" Gwen asked with confusion.

"Well you're a copper, you're trained to ask questions." Owen explained.

"You don't know anything?"

At this question Owen glanced over at Rose before looking back at Gwen.

"Not who he is, not where he's from, nothing." He told her.

"Maybe that's because it's none of your business." Rose piped up with a shrug.

"Do you know?" Gwen asked looking over at Rose, she had gotten the vibe that she and Jack were close from the first moment she had met them.

"Miss Tyler likes to keep her secrets." Owen told Gwen, annoyance evident in his tone as he glanced over at Rose again.

"They aren't my secrets to tell, but Jack's a good man, that's all you need to know." Rose told them and before anyone else could make further comment Jack walked back in and sat back at the table.

They all continued eating in comfortable silence before the sound of crying came through the monitor, Owen grabbed the remote and brought up the cctv for the vaults which showed Carys sitting on the floor of her cell sobbing.

"How can we sit here eating when there's a girl down there fighting for her life?" Gwen asked, walking over to the monitor and watching the young woman fighting to win an internal battle against an alien.

"Actually, whilst we've been eating the computers have been running a full bio scan on Carys so we can see what effects the gas is having on her. We're also taking samples of the air in the cell so we can analyse any changes in the environment around her, is there anything else you think we should be doing also?" Jack shot back, sounding quite smug as he went back to his food.

Gwen wanted to go with a more _human_ approach so Jack gave her free rein to run with her idea whilst the others waited on the results from the bio scan and the air samples taken from Carys' cell.


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And here is the final chapter for Day One. As I said, this isn't one of my favourite episodes but I hope I still did it justice. It's also 4am but I wanted to get this up as I felt like it was taking forever so i apologise for any mistakes.
> 
> Another side note that I wanted to address, I'm not sure how many picked up on it but back in chapter 2 I touched on the fact that Jack had already met up with The Doctor and had travelled with him and Martha, I know timeline wise this doesn't happen until the end of season 1 but I wanted everyone to know this was a deliberate change on my part, I don't plan on introducing The Doctor anytime soon and the only reason this is classed as a crossover is because I added Rose, if we get as far as the final then I will make the necessary changes to make it work around the canon verse.
> 
> Thanks!

**Chapter 8**

**Day One Part 3 **

Tosh was sat at her desk when the air samples they had taken from the cell came back with interesting results. She called the others over as she brought the results up on her monitor.

"So this is the normal chemical composition of the area inside the cell." She explained, pointing to the fairly normal looking readings.

"And these, are the reading from the last hour." She continued, bringing up a second set of results.

"The alien is secreting an ultra powerful blend of airborne pheromones, sex pheromones."

"I did wonder why I.. I sort of snogged her." Gwen told them, looking down sheepishly as she recalled her earlier actions with Carys.

"We know, we sort of saw you." Rose said with an awkward smile.

At least that explained why Gwen didn't seem to put up a fight when Carys had her pushed up against the wall of the cell.

"We can't let anyone else near her." Gwen said.

The others nodded in agreement. Rose suddenly remembered who had gone down to the cell to check on Carys and hadn't yet come back up.

"Owen!" She said in a panic, rushing down to the cells with Gwen and hoping Carys hadn't got there first.

They found Owen in the cell Carys had been in, alive but alone.

"Cheeky bitch took my swipe card." Owen told them, handcuffed and completely naked.

Rose pressed the intercom on the wall and told Jack that Carys had escaped from her cell whilst Gwen opened the door to the cell and let Owen out.

"You're lucky the only thing she wanted was your swipe card." Rose said.

"Are you alright now? Or are you still feeling a bit of a cock." Gwen asked with a smirk, glancing down at his hands covering his modesty.

Rose sniggered, patting Owen's arm as she passed him and headed back up to the main area to find Carys.

She made it to the visitors centre to find Carys gone and a broken jar on the floor with a severed hand beside it. A severed hand she for some reason felt like she recognised.

"Is that?" She asked, surely it couldn't be.

"Picked it up after the sycorax battle a few years back." Jack told her, picking up the hand carefully.

"It's The Doctors hand?" She asked again for clarification.

Jack nodded, checking to make sure the hand hadn't been damaged when Carys had dropped it.

"Didn't want it to fall into the wrong hands, no pun intended." He told her.

Rose had been so shocked by the hand that she had forgotten all about the reason she had come up here in the first place, to find Carys. Gwen and Tosh had both ran out in search of her and Rose followed Jack as he headed back down to the hub to find another container for the hand.

* * *

They had luckily been able to find another tank for the hand and the hand itself appeared to be undamaged. Gwen walked over to the pair as they were monitoring the severed limb, she looked at it in slight confusion and milk disgust before looking at Jack.

"After everything I said, a severed hand is more important than Carys' life?" She asked in disbelief.

"You wanna prove yourself? Then find her." Jack said, glancing at her as he spoke before looking back at the hand.

"Can't your friends in the police department do anything to help?" Rose asked.

"Alright, i'll give them a call." Gwen said with a nod, folding her arms across her chest as she started to walk away from the pair.

"Woman possessed by gas knobbing fellas to death." She continued, turning back to look at them.

Rose rolled her eyes and was about to bite back with her own sarcastic remark when Owen called them over. Sighing she headed up the steps and over to the med bay to find out what was going on.

"So i'm trying to interpret the results of the bio scan but the whole things a mess, because everything in her body keeps changing nothing stays constant." Owen started.

"Because she's fighting the alien for control of her own body." Jack summarised, receiving confirmation via a nod from Owen.

"Yeah, so I decided to do a comparative diagnostic and speed up the process a bit so we can find out where Carys is headed." Owen continued, pointing to the rat in the tank.

"I infected the rat with a combination of the gas traces we collected from the crash site as well as the club, once the gases start to flow around the body, the real party begins."

He brought up a screen with the rats vital scans and showed them how the progression of the gas effected the animal, something which would eventually happen to Carys also. It only took a few more seconds before the rat inside the tank exploded.

"Wait, so that's what going to happen to Carys?" Rose asked with a frown.

"Right now, it's a struggle between where Carys ends and the alien begins." He told them.

* * *

"We need to put ourselves in her place in order to find out where she'll go next." Gwen said.

"Except we don't know what her controlling impulse is by now, Carys or the alien inside her." Jack injected with a shrug.

"The overriding factor for the alien is to have sex, it's a survival instinct to its bound to be the strongest drive." Tosh added.

"Alright so you're Carys, you're desperate for sex because that's what the thing inside you needs but you now that it'll kill, where do you go?" Rose asked rhetorically.

"I'd come round and shag you." Owen told her.

Everyone looked at Owen in disgust and Rose was glad to be standing beside him in that moment so she could punch him in the arm, hard.

"Ow! I was joking, it was a joke, can't I joke with my teammates?" He asked defensively, grabbing his arm in the place Rose had just hit.

"So what are we talking? Brothels, lap dance clubs, anywhere there's eager men." Jack said, ignoring Owen's comment.

"I know where I'd go." Rose said, only allowing her thoughts to drift back to her first boyfriend for a moment before she pushed them back.

"Does she have an ex boyfriend?" She asked.

They did a search and found that Carys did indeed have a recent ex boyfriend, they got up his address and only hoped they wouldn't be too late.

* * *

Jack and Rose burst through the door of Carys' ex boyfriends flat and were unsurprised to find nothing but a pile of sand.

"We're too late." Rose announced with a sigh.

"You were right though, she went for the ex boyfriend." Jack said.

"Lucky she's young, make your way through my back catalogue and we'd be here until the sun explodes."

Rose smirked and rolled her eyes at Jack's comment, following him out of the flat and back out to the suv.

"So what's our next move?" Jack asked the team once he was back in the suv.

"Stop the entire city of Cardiff from shagging?" Owen suggested.

"It could have used any body in Cardiff, why hers?" Tosh wondered aloud.

"There's got to be a reason, Gwen what did you find out about her?" Rose asked.

"There really wasn't a lot." Gwen said with a shrug.

"Well where does she work?" She asked.

Tosh took the liberty of pulling up her employment records.

"She works at Conway Clinic."

"You're joking." Owen said in disbelief.

"Whats wrong?" Jack asked.

"Its a bloody fertility clinic, an unlimited supply of orgasmic energy without all the build up." He explained.

Jack nodded and turned the suv around, following Tosh's directions to get them to the clinic as fast as possible. Rose made sure her gun was loaded and ready to go as Owen passed Gwen a spare. The Doctor had always hated guns, he kept her safe when they travelled together so she never had to consider the idea of carrying her own weapon. But he wasn't here anymore, so she had to keep herself safe now.

* * *

He parked the car outside the clinic and everyone got out and rushed inside. With there guns raised as precaution, they made their way through the clinic in search of Carys. After searching several rooms and finding nothing but remains they managed to corner Carys before she had time to take another victim.

Rose didn't know how to help the girl, the alien claimed it just needed one more but they couldn't allow her to kill anymore innocent men.

"I've got a surplus of a life, I'm giving it away." Jack announced, stepping forward and kneeling down in front of Carys.

Rose wasn't sure what Jack had in mind, but she was quite surprised when he started kissing Carys. She knew he had apparent unlimited lives but she wasn't aware he could give them away. She watched as he pulled away and the young girl passed out.

"She won't last much longer." Owen told them.

Jack's quick fix wasn't enough to save her and they were running out of time. Rose had taken on the time vortex and a bitchy trampoline and came out the other side, she could only hope the same would be said this time.

Rose stepped behind Carys and kneeled down, placing her hands under the girls head she tried to focus.

"Leave Carys and take my body as host, just leave her alone." She said, hoping the alien could hear her despite the girl being unconscious.

Jack reached forward and grabbed one of her arms, he could barely believe what she was trying to do.

"Rose.."

"I'm stronger than she is Jack, I'll be able to last longer and you might be able to save me." She told him, determination clear in her voice.

"Ok." Jack nodded and stood.

"You can't let her do this." Tosh told him, eyebrows raised in surprise.

"You heard her, it's her choice." He responded, taking a step back.

Rose took a deep breath and stood, stepping back and bracing herself.

"Come on then, leave her." Rose told the alien.

She watched at the pink gas left Carys and floated into the air, subconsciously taking a step back as it moved towards her. She squeezed her eyes shut and waited for the takeover, her fear starting to outweigh the relief at saving Carys.

When she didn't feel the gas take hold of her after a few moments she opened her eyes to find it struggling inside the invisible cell she had seen Owen use before. She glanced at Jack before looking back at the gas, it appeared to be dying and she hoped the cell would last longer than the aliens remaining lifespan.

It didn't take long before the gas dispersed and the cell shut itself down, the only thing remaining of the alien was a pile of pink sand on the ground.

Jack and Rose kneeled down in front of the alien remains, he picked up a handful of the sand before letting it fall through his fingers. Rose watched him for a moment before leaning forward and pressing a quick kiss to his lips. It wasn't the first kiss they'd shared but it was the first time in a long time which is the reason she gave herself as to why it felt different this time.

"Thanks, Jack." She said quietly, resisting the urge to give him another peck she stood up and left the room.

* * *

Once Carys had woken up, they took her home to her father. She couldn't remember everything that had happened and they gave her dad an abbreviated explanation so he wasn't aware of all the gory details but knew his daughter had been through a lot and would need him there to support her.


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi, so I was hoping to be further along by now but here we are. I have ideas on how I want to integrate Rose but for some reason getting it down is harder than I thought. This chapter is slightly shorter than usual but I wanted to get something up as it's been a while and I hope you all enjoy it anyway. Hoping to get the rest of the episode written and uploaded within the next couple of days. As always please let me know what you think, bad or good I would love the feedback.

**Chapter 9**

**Ghost Machine Part 1**

Their feet pounded across the pavement as they sprinted through the streets of Cardiff, there was no visual on what or who they were in pursuit of, only a signal that whatever it may be was of alien origin.

With directions being given by Tosh through their earpieces, Rose, Owen and Gwen ran through alleys and down busy streets.

"What is it Tosh? What can you see?" Rose asked.

Rose had spent the better part of two years travelling with The Doctor, two years of near non stop running. Back in those days, they were usually running away as opposed to towards the aliens. But things change, for one thing she definitely didn't feel as fit as she had back then and she was starting to feel a little breathless from all this running.

"I can't get a visual, only a signal, but it's definitely alien in origin." Tosh told them as she continued to monitor the direction in which the signal was moving.

The trio narrowly avoided colliding with cyclists as they ran as fast as they could, whatever it was they were chasing, it was fast.

Tosh managed to get a visual on what or rather who they were after, it appeared to be a kid in a hoodie. They caught site of him ahead and Rose managed to take lead as he ran through a shopping centre. The kid managed to slip underneath a closing shutter and with seconds to spare so did Rose, leaving behind the others. He wasn't slowing down and she was starting to wonder how much longer she'd be able to chase him when he bumped into two pedestrians and stumbled. She was able to grab onto the sleeve of his hoodie and actually thought she had him until he managed to slip out of it and run off. Rose was too out of breath to give chase again and sighed, clutching the kids jacket in her hand as she watched him disappear into the night.

"You star you did it!" Tosh called over the coms.

"I was so close." Rose told her, taking a moment to catch her breath.

"No, you got it." Tosh told her, confusion evident in her tone.

"I lost him Tosh." Rose said.

"I swear, whatever it is you're holding it." Tosh repeated, trying to zoom in on the cctv footage for the area Rose was in to find out what it was she had if it wasn't the kid.

Rose frowned and began searching the pockets of the hoodie, she pulled out some sort of metal device. It had a flashing button and was making some sort of beeping sound and before she could use logic to convince herself not to press the button she did just that.

The people around Rose suddenly disappeared and she glanced around in panic, she wasn't sure what happened but knew it had something to do with the device she was currently holding in her hands.

She heard footsteps and looked over to find a little boy carrying a luggage case walking out of the station, it was then that she was hit with a sudden wave of emotion. She felt scared and anxious, like she had been left behind and wasn't sure if she would ever be found.

"Hello?" She called out to the little boy.

"Who are you?" She spoke again but he didn't react.

She noticed the name tag attached to his coat and wanted to move and help him but fear over the uncertain kept her frozen in place. He started talking about how he had been left behind and how no one knew who he was and it was then she realised that the emotions she was currently feeling, most of them at least were coming from him.

"Wait, come back!" She called out to the boy as he started walking back towards the station.

The device started bleeping again and suddenly she was back in the present. She barely registered the others finally catching up to her, snapping out of her daze when Jack touched her shoulder.

"I've just seen a ghost." She told them, her eyes wide.

Owen and Gwen looked at her in confusion as Jack took the device out of her hands and held it behind him for one of them to take. He then grabbed her shoulders gently and looked at her in concern.

"Lets get back to the hub ok?" He smiled when she nodded, letting go of her shoulders and grasping one of her hands.

* * *

Rose followed Jack and the others back to the suv in silence, she couldn't wrap her head around what had just happened. It had all felt so real but she didn't understand how it could have been if she was the only person to have seen it.

As soon as they arrived back at the hub, Jack asked Tosh to bring up the cctv from the station. She brought up the footage and projected it onto the screen in the med bay so that everyone could see.

"So Rose grabs the kid, she's got his jacket and he just slips out." Tosh commentated as the others watch the screen.

Jack moved to stand next to Rose as she leaned against the railing watching the footage.

"You ok with this?" He asked, looking at his friend with concern.

Rose nodded and turned to look at Tosh.

"And then?"

Tosh watched the screen as the scene played out, waiting to see the little boy Rose claims she saw. But there was nothing.

"Gwen, Jack and Owen arrive, then nothing.. Sorry." Tosh said, looking at her friend apologetically.

Rose watched with a frown, she didn't understand how this was possible.

"No, but how? It was as real as this is, more real! I didn't just see that little boy, I could feel everything he felt, it was like I was lost." She told them.

"Tense emotion could be part of a neurological event, hallucinations? Dementia?" Owen suggested.

It took every ounce of self control Rose had for her not to grab something heavy and launch it at Owen's smug face.

"I wasn't hallucinating Owen, and I'm not bloody senile!" She shouted down to him.

Jack picked up the device Rose had taken off the kid and examined it.

"So you pushed this button and it caused the apparition moment?" He asked her, his finger hovering over the button she had pressed a short while before.

"Jack don't!" Rose called out to her friend as he looked as though he was about to activate the device.

"As if." He called back, giving her a look of surprise that she actually thought he'd be that stupid.

Rose folded her arms across her chest and made her way over to Tosh's desk, she was still shaken by what had happened and hoped they'd be able to find the kid and get some answers.

"Where do we start Tosh?"

"The guy you were chasing, I've got him on plenty of the cctv footage so tracking him down will be easy." Tosh told her with a small smile.

"The little boy, you said there was a name on the card around his neck?" She continued.

Rose nodded and stepped forward.

"Yeah, it was er.. Flanagan, Tom Erasmus Flanagan."

"Unusual name so tracking him down shouldn't be too difficult." Jack said.

"Run a full check, births, death, criminal record, no matter how long it takes, we'll find him." He told Tosh as she began her search.

"Found him!" Owen yelled up to the others.

They all turned at the sound of his voice and found him standing in the med bay holding a copy of the phone book.

"Want to go pay your friend a visit?" Jack asked, looking at Rose.

Rose nodded in response.

"Take Owen with you." He told her.

Rose sighed and looked over at Owen who had a similarly look of distain at the prospect of accompanying her.

"Fine." She replied, giving her friend a smile that he knew was fake but said nothing about anyway.


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10**

**Ghost Machine Part 2**

The drive over to the address they had for Tom was made in relative silence. It wasn't that Rose and Owen disliked each other per say, he was just a massive pain in the arse and he felt like she had a massive stick up hers.

The impending interview brought back memories of when she and The Doctor had done their own investigations back in the day. They had his psychic paper back then to pretend they were of official authority. Her memories of her time with The Doctor were bittersweet, she still missed him greatly and he would always hold a place in her heart. She hoped that one day their paths would cross again but until then she intended on making the most out of the second chance she and Jack had been given.

"Earth to Rose?" Owen's irritated voice snapped Rose out of her thoughts, she glanced over to find him staring at her and it was then she realised that they had arrived at their destination.

Rose mumbled an apology and got out of the car, crossing the street she headed over to number seventy four. She waited until Owen had joined her outside Tom's home before knocking on the door.

A woman who appeared to be a few years older than Rose answered the door, flashing the police badge she had borrowed from Gwen she gave the woman a smile.

"Hi I'm DI Tyler and this is DS Harper, do you have a spare few minutes for a quick chat?"

The woman looked confused and slightly panicked as Rose introduced herself, nodding she opened the door wider and stepped aside to allow them through. Rose and Owen followed her through to the living room where they found an elderly man watching the tv, Tom Flanagan they presumed.

"I'm Rose and this is Owen, he's in training." Rose told the elderly man with a smile, glancing at Owen she resisted the urge to smirk at his reaction to her introduction.

"We're just doing some routine checks, looking for anyone that may have witnessed an incident at the railway station last night." She continued.

"We were here weren't we dad? Strictly come dancing finals." The woman told them and Rose nodded.

"Would you like a cup of tea?" Tom asked.

"I'd love one thanks, Owen will give you a hand." Rose said with a smile as the woman rose from her seat.

She patted Owen on the arm with a smirk as he shot her a look, taking the seat the woman had just vacated she turned her attention to the older man.

"So for the record, you are Tom Erasmus Flanagan?" Rose asked, taking out a small notebook so she could take down some notes.

"My father was an Erasmus, and his father before him." He explained with a smile.

"Now that doesn't sound like a Welsh accent?"

"No, I've lived here sixty six years and still sound like a barrow boy." He told her with a chuckle.

"What about you my dear?" He asked Rose with a smile.

"Me? Oh I travel all over, I'm from London originally though." She explained, returning the smile.

"I was evacuated during the war, nineteen forty one, the germans bombing the hell out of the east end." He explained.

Rose recalled her brief time spent in London during that time, back when she was travelling with Mr big ears and leather. It felt like a lifetime ago now, and in someways it was.

"Wasn't Cardiff being bombed as well as London?" Rose asked.

She listened closely as he told her his story, how unknown to him at the time it would be the last time he ever saw his mother or sister. Although she knew it was extremely unlikely, Rose wanted to fool herself into thinking they made it and despite not being able to reunite with Tom lived a good life nonetheless.

"How old were you?"

"Eight." He told her and she nodded.

"You must have been very frightened." She said.

"I didn't know a soul here, there was a mix up and they ended up leaving me behind." He explained.

Rose realised this must have been the scene she saw at the station, Tom wondering through the tunnel looking for someone, anyone to take him where he needed to be. She didn't have to imagine the fear he felt because she had felt it herself during the apparition.

"They worked it out in the end and they came back for me, and I got taken in by a lovely couple with no children of their own." He finished with a smile.

The others returned to the living room with the tea and the conversation switched back to lighter topics as Tom's daughter proceeded to talk their ears off about current soap affairs whilst they drank.

"We should get going, but thank you so much for your time." Rose said with a smile as she rose from her seat, glancing over at Owen who looked relieved that they were finally leaving.

"I'm sorry we couldn't be more help." Tom's daughter told them as she led the pair towards the front door.

Rose and Owen bid the pair goodbye and stepped out into the street, making their way back towards the suv.

"He was the boy I saw at the station, I just don't understand." Rose told Owen as they made their way down the street.

"I can't comment, I was stuck in the kitchen with motor mouth thanks to you." He responded dryly.

Rose ignored his response as she continued to voice aloud her theories as to why she saw Tom in the apparition back at the station.

* * *

When they arrived back at the hub, their attention turned to finding the kid they had gotten the alien device off in the first place. Unsurprisingly it didn't take long.

"Our friend with the alien machine in his pocket is one, Sean Harris, known to his friends as Bernie." Jack told his team.

Rose read through the information they had on the kid as Gwen listed off his current convictions.

"Not exactly a criminal mastermind is he?" Rose commented.

She looked up from her papers as Ianto passed by with a tray of drinks and a bag of goodies, taking one of the cups she gave her friend a smile as he moved on to the others.

"Got anywhere with that alien object?" Owen asked, looking over at Jack briefly before turning his attention back to the video game he was playing.

"Alien of course, gorgeous nano technology, makes NASA look like toys are us." He explained.

"Well, you've really narrowed things down haven't you." Owen responded sarcastically.

Rose rolled her eyes, she often wondered if something drastic had happened to Owen to turn him into such an egotistical prick or if he was just born that way.

"So, what next?" She asked.

"This kid Bernie, where does he live?" Jack responded.

Tosh skimmed over the personal information they had on the kid before looking over at Jack.

"Splott." She told him bluntly.

"Splott?" Rose repeated with raised eyebrows.

"I believe estate agents pronounce it Splo." Ianto chimed in.

Jack finished his pastry and stood from his chair, brushing himself down.

"Lets go." He told them.

Every single person they had found that had a connection to Bernie Harris had either no information on his whereabouts or wouldn't tell them even if they did. Even the kids own mother wanted nothing to do with him. Rose sighed in frustration as she met up with the others and found they too had come back with nothing.

She looked up as Jack approached and made her way over to him.

"We did try Jack." She told him.

He looked over at the others about to tuck into pasties and then back at Rose, sighing before walking off in the opposite direction.

"Where are we going?" Rose called after him.

"Back to the railway station, I want to conduct a controlled experiment, we replicate the original events as far as possible so we can observe and analyse the results." He explained, not bothering to look back to see if they were following.

"I have to do that again?" She asked.

The first and what she had hoped would be the only time she used the alien machine had shaken her and the thought of having to do it again made her uneasy. Jack must have sensed the uncertainty in her voice because her response made him stop and look to face them.

"Someone has to, any volunteers?" Jack didn't give any of them a chance to respond before he tossed the device at Owen.

"Jack, we don't even know what this thing really is, it could be dangerous." She told him.

"Yeah." He responded bluntly and she had to resist the urge to roll her eyes, he could be so unreasonable sometimes but she didn't want to argue with him especially in front of the others.

'Look I don't mean to be picky but I think I can spot some flaws with this plan." Owen spoke up, equally as unenthusiastic at the prospect of having to use the alien device.

"Oh I'm sorry, I thought you were the guys that gave up looking for a nineteen year old kid this morning, I figured you'd be after something a little more exciting, bit of a challenge!" He bit back before walking off.

Rose really did roll her eyes at his last comment, picking up her pace to catch up with him she looped one her arms through his. He tensed for a moment before sighing, taking his hand out of his pocket he took her hand instead and gave it a gentle squeeze, as way of a silent apology for losing his temper with her and the others.

"Guys, come here a minute!" Owen called out to the others as the device began bleeping and flashing again as it had before when Rose had experienced the apparition back at the station.

"Come on Owen!" Gwen called over her shoulder as she followed Jack, Rose and Tosh out of the tunnel.

"Wait!" He called out again.

Owen's surroundings suddenly shifted, he was still standing in the underpass but the others were gone, it was suddenly dark and also raining. He thought he was alone when he heard a sound, he looked ahead to see a figure emerging from the shadows.


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this chapter is dark. Anyone that has seen this episode knows what happens next, a couple of changes have been made but I wanted to leave a warning at the beginning for anyone that may be affected by that kind of thing and if you want to skip this chapter then that's fine. Abuse is the main trigger here but there are also insinuated actions that aren't named but are touched on. I just wanted to be respectful to everyone by leaving a note, if you do read please as always let me know what you think. I'm trying to get this episode wrapped up as soon as, i'm on holiday until the end of the week but your feedback would really help the progress.
> 
> Thanks.

**Chapter 11**

**Ghost Machine Chapter 3**

_A young girl stumbled into the underpass, one of her hands outstretched and touching the stone wall to help keep her balanced whilst the other wiped furiously at the never ending flow of tears streaming down her face._

Owen watched as the young girl emerged from outside of the tunnel, he couldn't quite make out her features but judging by the sniffling he could hear he assumed she was crying.

_"_ _I knew he wouldn't change, I shouldn't have believed him." She muttered to herself, moving away from the wall she stumbled further into the tunnel, mentally chastising herself for letting him get her so drunk._

He couldn't quite make out what she was saying but as she wondered further into the tunnel in an attempt to make it out the other side he frowned as he realised who it was. She looked younger, maybe sixteen or seventeen at a push but he knew it was her. He was about to call her to her, unsure if she'd even be able to hear him when another voice filled the tunnel. He looked past the young girl as another figured emerged from the same direction she had come.

_"_ _Rosie!" A singsong voice rang out through the tunnel._

Owen was hit with a sudden wave of emotion, the most prominent one being fear. He was frozen on the spot, unable to even move let alone call out. Unable to do anything to intervene or to pull himself out of this apparition he was forced to watch the memory play out.

_Rose froze when she heard the voice coming from the entrance to the tunnel, refusing to turn around she tried her best to control her emotions._

_"_ _Get lost Jimmy!" She called back, wiping away her tears with the sleeve of her jacket._

_"_ _Rosie I'm sorry." The voice called out again._

_A young man slowly made his way through the tunnel, he looked to be in his early twenties, and far too old to be harassing a sixteen year old._

_Rose turned as she heard footsteps approaching, fresh tears falling down her cheeks as she watched the man come to a stop a few feet in front of her._

_"_ _You're a liar!" She shouted at him, stumbling backwards as she tried to regain some distance._

_"_ _Rosie please." He spoke softly as he took a step forward, reaching out and grasping one of her hands._

_She stopped again as Jimmy took her hand, looking down at their joined hands she shook her head and looked back at him._

_"_ _You always say you're sorry, but then you hurt me again." She told him._

_Jimmy took another step forward, raising his other hand to Rose's cheek. She flinched at the contact but he took no notice, wiping away her tears with his thumb._

_"_ _I'll do better, I promise Rose, I love you."_

_Rose met his gaze. She had heard it all before, the apologise and the promises that were always broken. But she loved him, she had given up her chance of getting her a levels and run off with him and his band. Maybe it was her adolescent mind or maybe it was the alcohol, but for the infinite time she allowed herself the thought that maybe he really would change this time. Maybe he really did mean his apology and he would do better._

_He leaned in and she didn't stop him as he pressed his lips to hers, even kissing him back for a moment. His grip on her hand got tighter and she suddenly realised what she was doing, she couldn't give him another chance, not again. Struggling to release her hand from his grip, she used her free hand to attempt to push him away. He gripped her hand tighter as she struggled and continued kissing her before finally pulling away in anger at her lack of reciprocation. Releasing her hand he took a step back, looking at her in disgust before raising his hand and backhanding her across the cheek._

_Rose cried out and stumbled back, barely having any time to react before Jimmy grabbed a fistful of her hair and pulled her up to stand beside him. He pulled something out of his pocket and her eyes widened as he flicked open a pocket knife and held it in front her face._

_"_ _I don't want to hurt you Rosie." He told her, grazing her cheek with the tip of his knife._

_"_ _Jimmy_ _please." Rose begged as he pressed the knife into her skin, blood mixing with her tears as it trickled down her cheek from the cut he had given her._

_She saw movement out of the corner of her eye and noticed that her neighbour was passing by the tunnel._

_"_ _Mr Morgan!" Rose screamed, struggling against Jimmy's grip as he kept the knife pressed against her cheek._

_"_ _Mr Morgan!" She cried out again._

_Jimmy remained silent as he looked across the tunnel at the man who lived next door to the flat he and Rose shared. Mr Morgan met Jimmy's gaze and said nothing, continuing his walk and ignoring Rose's cries for help._

_"_ _Shhhh." He told her quietly, gripping her hair tighter as he led her further into the tunnel and over to a dark area the moonlight couldn't reach._

Owen was forced to watch the scene unfold in front of him, his body overcome with the emotions that Rose felt throughout the whole ordeal. He watched in horror as Jimmy dragged her further into the tunnel, and wasn't sure how much more he could physically take when his surroundings began changing once more. The rain stopped and night became day again. He was met with the very same person he had just seen, this time much older and looking at him in concern.

"Owen, are you ok?" Rose asked, putting a hand on his arm as he looked at her in shock.

It took a few moments for him to realise he was back in the present, he registered Rose's voice speaking to him but all he could do was stare at her. The horror at what he had just witnessed his friend go through quickly gave way to anger.

"Who's Jimmy?" He asked her, his voice sounding a lot harsher than intended.

"Who?" Rose replied, confusion evident in her voice.

"Jimmy." He repeated.

"What did he do to you?" His voice broke as he spoke, the memories of what he had seen filling his mind.

Rose was about to ask him what he was talking about when a memory was triggered in her mind, a memory she had long since suppressed. She glanced around the underpass and her face paled as she realised where they were and what Owen must have seen.

Tears filled her eyes and the air felt thick. She couldn't deal with this. Being here, remembering what had happened, dealing with Owen knowing what had happened to her. Rose was starting to feel like she couldn't breathe and she needed to get out of there before she suffocated.

"I can't do this." She managed to whisper, meeting his gaze for only a moment but long enough for him to see the fear in her eyes before brushing past him and heading back the way they came in.

Jack watched their exchange from a short distance away, he couldn't make out their conversation but he could tell that whatever Owen had seen, it had shaken him just like it had Rose the night before.

"Rose?" He called out as he watched her take off.

His call went ignored as he made his way over to Owen, looking at the medic with a questioning expression as he awaited answers on what had just happened.

"I saw her Jack." Owen told his boss, his voice was quiet as he tried to control his emotions.

"Saw who?" Jack asked with a frown.

"She was just a kid, sick bastard." Owen continued, the tears he had been trying to hold back finally beginning to fall.

Jack still didn't fully understand what had happened but he needed to find Rose and make sure she was ok.

"Tell the others Rose and I are following another lead, we'll meet you back at the hub." He told Owen and the younger man only nodded in response.

He looked back at Tosh and Gwen who were watching them in confusion and offered them a nod before heading off in the direction Rose had taken.

Rose felt sick, she had buried the memories of that night so deep and she never thought she'd have to revisit them. Of all the events that had ever occurred under that bridge, why did that night have to be the thing that Owen saw.

She walked with no direction, her only intention to get as far away from that place as possible. Leaning against the wall of a nearby building, she took deep breaths as she tried to stop flashes of what had happened that night from filling her mind.

"Rose?"

The voice startled Rose and she looked up with wide eyes to find Jack standing a few feet away. Any composure she had managed to maintain up until that point shattered and she lost it.

"Jack." Her voice broke as she said his name.

Jack stepped forward and Rose collided with his chest, her tears soaking through his shirt as he held her tight and let her cry. Neither were sure how long they were stood in the thankfully secluded area, holding each other until Rose felt numb from crying so much. He pulled away only slightly, so he could look her in the eye. She wasn't crying anymore but her face was still wet rom her tears. He raised a hand to her face and wiped away what was left of her tears before taking one of her hands and squeezing it gently.

"What happened?" He asked her, already dreading what her answer may be.

Rose told him everything about what Owen had witnessed. Jack knew of Rose's ex boyfriend Jimmy Stone, she had told him during one of their many nights together on the Tardis. He knew the kid hurt Rose in more ways than one and he always swore to make sure he got what he deserved if he ever came across him. She told him about their brief residence in Cardiff whilst his band was touring, how once again she had forgiven him for the way he treated her. Then she told him what he had done to her that night, under the bridge. She had never told anyone, not even her mum. The night after it had happened, she had called her mum in tears, apologising for running away in the first place and promising to come home as soon as she could. She had gone home, luckily Jimmy was too busy and didn't care enough to try and stop her again and aside from a handful of threatening texts warning her not to tell anyone what had happened that was the last time she had ever seen or heard from him.

Jack felt sick as he listened to Rose tell him what had happened to her, he couldn't believe his best friend, his precious Rose had been through something like this and had kept it to herself all this time. Fresh tears spilled down her cheeks as she finished telling him the story and he raised his hands to her cheeks, pressing a quick kiss to her forehead before looking her in the eye.

"I need you to listen to me ok?" He told her and she nodded.

"Nobody is ever going to hurt you like that again, I promise you Rose, I will never let that happen to you again." He continued.

Rose remained silent as he spoke, nodding in acknowledgment of his promise. He wiped away her tears once more, pressing another kiss to her forehead before pulling her back into his arms. She wrapped her arms around his waist and held on to him just as tight as he was her, they couldn't change the past but he would make would make sure as long as she would let him he would keep her safe.


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello, this has taken me way longer than I wanted or expected to get finished but here we are. This was a pretty dark episode overall but nonetheless I hope you guys enjoy my rewrite. I didn't want to have to drag one episode on for 5 whole chapters so as a result there's just a super long 4th and final chapter instead. As always, please let me know what you guys think. I welcome your feedback whether it be good or bad and hearing from you will definitely help me write more. 
> 
> Thanks

**Chapter 12**

**Ghost Machine Chapter 4**

They weren't sure how long it had been since they had branched off from the others but Rose and Jack were finally heading back to the hub. It could have been hours, but since they thought the two were off following a lead, Jack knew they wouldn't think to ask any questions pertaining to anything other than their current case.

It was quiet as the pair headed inside the main hub, Rose knew she would have to speak to Owen at some point about what he had seen and she could only hope he had kept it to himself and hadn't told the others.

"Any luck?" Gwen's voice called over to them from where she was sitting at her desk.

Rose wasn't sure what excuse Jack had given the others for their absence and glanced at him in hopes he would take lead on the conversation.

"Another dead end." Jack told her with a sigh.

They made their way over to the group, Tosh and Gwen were sat at their desks and Owen was sat on the sofa still looking shaken from what he had seen. They had set the alien device in a scanner and were running tests in order to find out exactly what it was and how it was causing these apparitions.

Gwen stood up from her desk and walked over to the device, crossing her arms across her chest she turned to look at the others.

"So the first time it happens to Rose, a boy at the railway station who's now in his seventies and living in Butetown." She said, glancing at Rose who nodded in confirmation before looking over at Owen.

"The second time it happens to Owen, like Rose you didn't just see it, you felt emotions that weren't yours." She continued.

"She was terrified." Owen said quietly.

"Are you sure you didn't see anything that could help us find out who she was? You didn't hear any of them refer to the other by name?" Tosh asked, turning away from her computer and looking over at Owen.

Rose froze as she awaited Owen's response, it appeared that up until this point at least he hadn't told the others about who it was he had seen and she silently prayed that he would keep it that way.

"She was blonde, maybe sixteen or seventeen." He told her with a small shrug.

"Anything else?" She asked.

Owen glanced at Rose, something that went unnoticed by everyone aside from her and he shook his head.

"Sorry Tosh."

"I need coffee." Rose said to no one in particular, briefly wondering where Ianto was as she headed over to the coffee machine.

She set to work making herself a strong cup of coffee and wasn't surprised when she heard footsteps approaching.

Owen had never been good at comforting people. He was aware that he came across as an arsehole most of the time, he was a bit of an arsehole that was fact. But he still cared, and all he wanted to do right now was find this Jimmy prick and kill him.

"He was my boyfriend." Rose said quietly, turning to face Owen.

She knew he'd want answers, she wasn't sure how much of the memory he had seen but judging by his reaction he had seen enough and was able to put together the rest for himself.

"I was sixteen and in love, and stupid enough to keep believing him every time he apologised or said he'd change." She continued, refusing to meet his eye as she retold the story.

"He'd always had a tempter, but that night was the first time he ever.." Her words trailed off, they both knew what had happened and it didn't need voicing out loud in the middle of the hub.

"Did you go to the police?" He asked, he couldn't bare the thought of this sick bastard getting away with what he had done.

Rose shook her head.

"I never told anybody." She told him.

"So you just let him get away with it?" He asked, his voice rising.

"I was just a kid." She shot back, her own voice rising in volume.

She couldn't afford to lose it again, not when the others were only a short distance away. Their arguing wasn't uncommon so she hoped they would just assume it was another pointless squabble.

Owen sighed, he _really _wasn't good at comforting people.

"Look, I'm sorry," He said.

"You and Jack are the only ones who know about this, and I would like to keep it that way." She said, meeting his gaze with pleading eyes.

"Of course." Owen replied almost automatically.

Rose nodded and she gave him a small smile, more out of thanks than actual happiness. She grabbed her coffee and was about to head back over to the others when he stopped her with a hand on her arm.

"If you ever need anything, a chat or just someone to get drunk with." He told her and she smiled, a genuine smile this time and nodded again.

"Thanks Owen." She said before heading back over to the rest of the team.

"Figure out what that thing is yet?" Rose asked as she rejoined the others.

"It's a quantum transducer." Jack told her as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"And in English?"

"Transducers convert energy from one form into another, they're in headphones, they convert electrical signals into sound." Tosh explained.

"So this device is converting quantum energy into ghosts?" Rose asked looking quite surprised.

"Human emotion is energy, you can't always see or hear it but you can feel it." Jack chimed in.

"Ever had déjà vu? Felt someone walk over your grave? Ever felt someone behind you in an empty room? Well there was, there always is." He explained.

"A ghost?" She summarised.

Jack nodded in confirmation.

"What's the point in having this stupid machine and experiencing these flashbacks if we aren't even able to change what happens?" Owen questioned as he threw a file he had in his hand down on a nearby desk.

Everyone looked over at him, most surprised by his sudden outburst with the exception of Rose who knew exactly why he was angry.

"You aren't supposed to be able to see them in the first place, these are just snippets of memories left behind, and even if you could intervene these are fixed points and can't be changed." Jack explained calmly.

"Well, isn't that fucking brilliant, since when did we start following the rules?" Owen shot back, his voice rising.

"Tomorrow we go looking for Bernie Harris and we find out what he knows about this ghost machine, we do our job and find out where this thing came from, now go home!" Jack told him, his tone making it clear that was the last he would be saying on the matter.

"Rose, with me." He added, glancing at Rose as he walked away from the rest of the team.

Rose looked at Owen as he grabbed his things, she remained silent as he stormed off and sighed as she went in search of Jack. He was leaning against the railing over looking the hub when she found him, coming to stand beside him she rested her head against his shoulder.

"You alright?" He asked, taking one of his hands off the railing and putting his arm around her shoulders.

"It's been a long day." She replied with a sigh and he nodded in agreement.

"Night Jack, Rose!" Tosh called up to them as she and the others made their leave.

"Goodnight!" The pair called back in unison as they watched them leave for the night.

* * *

They had exhausted all of their leads on finding Bernie the day before, with any associates either not knowing where he was or not wanting to tell them their only other option was to scan through cctv of the area until it picked him up. Owen had yet to show up, the day before had been tough so they decided to let him do his thing and they'd give him a call when he was needed.

Tosh had her computer set up to automatically search through all nearby cctv and alert them if anyone matching Bernie's description was seen. As there was little else they could do, Rose was also doing a manual search just incase they missed him whilst Gwen was going over the information they already had on him to try and figure out if there were any details they had missed that could help them track the kid down.

"Owen's got the kid." Jack announced as he approached the team, slipping his mobile back into his pocket as he put his coat on.

"Where did he find him?" Rose asked as she and the others quickly got their things together and followed after Jack as he headed out.

"Right place right time." Jack said with a shrug.

* * *

Jack stopped the suv outside the pub they had arranged to meet Owen in, the group piled in and Rose smirked when she came across the pair both with pints in their hands.

"Well isn't this cosy." She remarked, folding her arms across her chest as she came to stand next to Owen.

"If this is about the dodgy fags I don't know what happened to them ok?" Bernie told them in a panic as he glanced around at them all.

Gwen tossed the ghost machine across the table to Jack who put it down in front of the kid, his initial reaction to seeing the device told them that he now knew exactly why they were there.

"It's worth knowing we are probably the only people you can tell." Jack told him, leaning against the table they were sat at.

They all listened as Bernie explained how he came to have the ghost machine, barely surprised when it was revealed he had stolen it along with other potential alien objects.

"That thing starts switching itself on, it makes you see things." He told them quietly.

"I've seen things you wouldn't believe, there's the old bridge on Pembroke Street, I saw a man and a girl from a few years ago, he was following her along the canal." He continued before being interrupted by Owen.

"I know, I saw it." Owen told him.

Rose looked away as Bernie explained the memory involving her, it had been a number of years since it had happened but she didn't want to risk him recognising her and saying anything in front of the others.

It was clear that he knew nothing about the origin of the machine and was just a thief. Taking a large sip from his pint, Owen pushed his chair out and looked over at Jack.

"He doesn't know anything does he?" Owen asked Jack.

"Bernie, it's been fascinating meeting you." Jack told the kid, picking the device up and heading towards the exit of the pub with the others following suit.

They ignored him as he called out to them and were about to leave the pub when he revealed there was a second half to the ghost machine, and he had it.

* * *

Bernie didn't live far from the pub so they followed him on foot to ensure they didn't lose him again, he had left the other half of the machine as well as the other trinkets he had stolen in the container he and his friend had found them in and when they arrived back at his place he handed the entire thing over the Jack.

"The other half." Jack announced as he handed the second half of the ghost machine over to Tosh who already had the first piece.

"This stuff just looks like weird bits of rock and foreign money." Rose said with a shrug as she and Gwen went through the contents of the container.

Jack peered into the container and picked up a few of the pieces, examining them quickly before putting them back.

"Alien rock, alien money, driftwood washing in through the rift" He explained with a shrug.

"So Bernie, was this thing in two halves when you found it?" He asked before looking over to Tosh at the sound of her clicking the two halves together.

Rose stood from her seat and took the now complete device from Jack after he had taken it back from Tosh and walked towards Bernie.

"You split this into two pieces didn't you." She questioned.

Tosh grabbed the container off the table and headed out of the flat, Jack, Gwen and Owen all following suit. Rose was about to do the same when Bernie stopped her.

"I only used it once, couldn't use it again." He told her.

"Why not?" She asked with a frown as she glanced down at the device and then back at Bernie.

"I'm gonna die, I've seen it happen, out there in the road I'm just lying there bleeding and then I die." He explained.

Rose looked confused as she took a step closer to Bernie, the kid looked terrified but she couldn't understand how he knew this would happen. She briefly glanced back as she heard Jack call out to her but turned her attention back to Bernie.

"What do you mean?" She asked.

"I'm just like I am now, not old or anything, I turned twenty in July do I die before then?" He asked her almost frantically.

Jack called out to her again and she sighed.

"Just wait there, I'll be back in a minute." She told him before heading out to find the others.

"Jack?" She called out as she left the flat.

The others were already on their way back to the suv when Rose emerged from the building and she was about to call out to Jack again when the device started flashing again as it had for her on the first night and then for Owen the day before. She barely registered Jack shouting her name as her surroundings changed. It was suddenly dark and for a moment she thought she was alone when she noticed a figure a short distance ahead.

"Hello?" She called out to the figure.

It only took her a moment before she realised she was talking to herself. The other woman looked up at Rose with tears in her eyes and that's when she also noticed the blood on her hands.

"I couldn't stop it." Vision Rose told her.

"Stop what?" Rose asked, unable to tear her gaze away from her own blood stained hands.

"He's dead, Owen had the knife and he wanted to kill him." The other Rose continued, taking small steps towards her.

"Owen." She repeated, trying to understand what was going on.

She watched as the other her began sobbing and begging for help, she began to panic and wanted to get further answers but before she could the scene shifted again and before she knew it she was suddenly back in the present.

"What the hell were you thinking Rose?" Jack questioned as he took the device from her.

Rose was still trying to wrap her head around what she had just seen, she looked over at Owen and felt the fear and panic return as she thought about the blood she had seen on her own hands.

"Lets get this stuff back to the hub." Jack told them.

His voice snapped Rose out of her daze and she nodded, meeting his concerned gaze before following the others back to the suv.

* * *

They took all the stuff back to the hub, Jack kept the ghost machine with him just incase it turned itself on again. Rose explained what Bernie had said to her as well as what she had seen in her second vision on the way back, once they arrived back at the hub Jack had the others analyse the contents of the container whilst he and Rose went to his office to try and further understand what it was she had seen and what it meant.

"So you didn't see anyone else in your vision?" Jack asked.

"I only saw myself, and then I just said his name." Rose explained.

"Owen." He said and she nodded.

"Bernie saw himself dead in that street, and you saw Owen with a knife." He continued.

"But I was holding it, my hands were covered in blood." She clarified.

"That was just one future, one of many possible futures, what you and Bernie saw might not even happen." He was trying to make her feel better and she knew it.

"But it might, is there nothing we have here that might be able to help us find out?" She asked.

"I'm sorry Rosie."

"I don't know what to do." She told him with a sigh.

He reached over his desk and squeezed her hand gently, giving her a reassuring smile that she returned. Owen chose that moment to enter Jack's office, he leaned against the door frame as the pair looked over at him.

"Enough moping, we're going for a drink." He announced, looking at Rose with a smirk.

"I'm not really in the mood Owen." She sighed.

"Jack?" He asked his boss.

Jack shook his head.

"You two should go, we're just about done here anyway." Jack told them, giving Rose's hand another squeeze.

"Fine." Rose said, after the last few days a drink would probably do her some good.

"Most women jump at the chance of a drink with me." Owen told her as they walked out of Jack's office and towards the exit.

"Don't make me regret saying yes." She told him with an eye roll, although she couldn't hide her smile.

* * *

"So I sort of tracked down Ed Morgan." Owen told her, taking a long sip of his beer as he awaited her reaction.

Rose frowned at his confession and was about to ask who he was talking about when she realised. She took a deep breath as she tried to stop the flashes of what happened that night from invading her mind again, it would be impossible to track down Jimmy as although Rose hadn't spoke to him since she left Cardiff she had heard about him moving back to London not long after she had so it was clear that Mr Morgan was the next best thing.

"Why?" She asked.

"He knew what was happening to you and he just, he let it happen, he didn't even report it, he let that bastard do what he did and get away with it." He tried to keep his tone neutral as he spoke, he didn't want to cause a scene in the bar and he also wasn't trying to upset Rose.

"He needed to know that his actions had consequences and I wasn't about to let him think he got away with it too."

Rose just nodded, she wanted to be angry at him for interfering and for dredging up the past but at the same time she appreciated that he cared enough to do that for her, especially since she had never been strong enough to do anything herself.

"I think he thought I wanted money, he just kept saying you'll get nothing from me, leave me alone, I've told you before." He added.

"Told who?" She asked with a frown.

It dawned on Owen after a moment, when there were at the pub that afternoon Bernie had told him that he'd also seen the apparition from the bridge and it wasn't unlikely that he'd also paid Ed a visit in order to tell him what he had seen and what he knew.

"We gotta go." He told her, pulling out his mobile and quickly dialling Jack's number as he grabbed his jacket and headed towards the exit.

It only took Rose an extra few moments before she caught on to Owen's train of thought, they already knew Bernie had blackmailed one of the people he had seen in one of the apparitions so it wasn't a stretch to think he had also tried to do the same thing to Ed Morgan.

Owen told Jack what he had done and also explained his theory about Bernie as they headed back to the hub, luckily they weren't far and it didn't take long for them to get back.

"Gwen is already at Bernie's, Owen and Rose with me, Tosh stay here and keep an eye on the cctv in case Bernie tries to make a run for it." Jack told them as soon as they arrived back at the hub.

Jack grabbed his coat as he led the way out of the hub and to the suv. They were barely en route when Tosh's voice came through on the coms to tell them Ed Morgan was on his way to Bernie's flat, they only hope they'd be able to get there in time.

They arrived to find Ed brandishing a knife at Gwen and Bernie. Jack and Owen crept up behind the older man whilst Rose stood off to the side so that she could check on Gwen and the kid once they had apprehended Ed. She rushed over to the pair once Jack had hold of Ed and Owen had his knife.

"You ok?" Rose asked Gwen and was relieved when the other woman nodded.

"Yeah, I think so."

They both looked over in shock as Owen suddenly had the knife pointed at Ed.

"Owen." Rose called out to him as she took a step forward.

Owen ignored Rose as he pressed the knife to Ed's cheek, he was so angry and for a split second he actually questioned whether he had the self control to stop himself.

"You were so close, and you did nothing. You knew what was happening, and you just walked away" He said in disgust, pressing the knife harder against the man's face.

"Owen stop, please." Rose said coming to stand next to him.

"Why should you get away with it?" He questioned.

"Owen don't do this." She put a hand on his arm and he finally glanced back at her, he saw the look in her eyes and snapped out of his rage long enough to move the knife and hold it out for her to take.

She sighed in relief when he offered her the knife and took it quickly, stepping away from them she took a breath to compose herself and looked down at the knife in her hands.

"You got here in time, no one died." She told Jack.

Her relief was short lived as Ed Morgan stepped forward to embrace her for saving his life, it all happened so fast that she had no time to react and she froze in shock as he walked straight into the knife she still had in her hands. She watched as he fell to the ground, her eyes widening in shock as she looked down at her bloody hands still holding the knife.

The knife fell from her bloody hands as she watched Owen attempt to save Ed to no avail, Jack came to stand in front of her and she looked at him with tears in her eyes before looking back down at her hands.

"Jack.. I.. Just.. I.." Rose shook her head as she tried to process her words, she barely noticed Gwen put an arm around her shoulders to try and comfort her as she stared at her hands in shock.

* * *

Rose was completely silent on the journey back to the hub, with help from Jack they had washed the blood from her hands as she appeared to be in a state of shock. With a blanket wrapped around her, she sat in Jack's office along with the others as they finally locked the ghost machine away for good.

"He wanted to die, he would have found a way no matter what." Tosh said in regards to Ed Morgan, that may have been true but it didn't change the fact that it was Rose that had done it.

"I messed up, I know I did, but I didn't kill him, I could have but I didn't." Owen said, more so to try and convince himself that he had done little wrongdoing.

"I did, I killed him." Rose said quietly, tears streaming down her cheeks.

"Tosh is right, it could have been anyone." Jack added.

Jack had Ianto lock the device away in the secure archives, they could only hope that would be the last they saw of it. Once that was done he looked over at Rose and stood from his desk.

"Come with me." He told her.

He led Rose out of his office and away from the others, she left the blanket behind as he took her out of the hub and onto the roof of the building they were based beneath. The sun was just about the rise on a new day and under any other circumstances it would have been a beautiful scene.

"I killed him, I've still got blood on my hands." Rose said, her voice shaky.

"He killed himself." He told her, putting an arm around her shoulders and holding her close.

"The sun is about to come up, on a new day, all those people, all that energy." He said, pressing a kiss to the top of her head.

"All those ghosts." She added.

"We're surrounded by them, we can't see them and we can't touch them but they're there, a million shadows of human emotion and we just gotta learn to live with them." He said with a small smile.

Rose sighed, leaning into him as he held her close. Things would always be tough, but they were made just a little easier knowing she had Jack by her side.


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi, so here's the first chapter for Cyberwoman. I'm quite enjoying writing this one as I feel like I'm able to integrate Rose without changing too much, I'm currently writing the next chapter and hope to have the whole episode up by the tail end of this week. As always I hope you all enjoy and feel free to leave a comment and let me know what you think.
> 
> Thanks!

**Chapter 13**

**Cyberwoman Chapter 1**

They'd had to draw straws to see who got the extra team member as there was an odd number but in the end it had been decided on Owen, Gwen and Rose versus Jack and Tosh with the losing team buying the first round of drinks. It was the first team to reach three points and they were currently on two each, Owen was up on the catwalk trying to find an opening to throw the ball down to one of the girls. Rose had her arms outstretched and ready to catch the ball when Jack grabbed her hips from behind and lifted her out of the way before taking her place.

"Come on girls!" Owen shouted down as he threw the ball.

Jack caught the ball and spun to face Rose with a smirk, raising the ball out of her reach he quickly threw it over the Tosh. With a frown she turned to Tosh, hands raised and ready to try and steal the ball.

"C'mon Tosh." Rose said with a smile, taking a step closer to her friend.

Thinking fast Tosh tossed the ball back over to Jack before Rose had a chance to get it from her. Jack held the ball in front of him, teasing Gwen with the ball before she caught him off guard and slapped the ball out of his hands. With a smirk she then passed it to Rose who threw it up to Owen who was now standing above the hoop.

"And just like that." Owen said with a smirk, dropping the ball into the hoop.

"That was an illegal move." Jack told them with a frown, picking up the basketball as the others grabbed their jackets.

"Totally illegal." Tosh agreed.

"Whatever you say, losers." Rose said with a shrug, holding up her thumb and finger in the shape of an L with a smirk and she headed out.

Jack rolled his eyes in jest and chuckled, passing the ball to Ianto as he followed the rest of the team out.

* * *

Things had been pretty busy as of late so not only was this drink much needed but it was also a nice change for the team to be able to enjoy each others company and not talk Torchwood. Jack was telling the others about some of the adventures he and Rose had shared when they travelled with The Doctor. A while ago, it would make Rose sad to revisit memories of her time with The Doctor, but she had been with Jack and his team for a while now and was finally able to make peace with the possibility that she may never be reunited with him if it meant that she could stay here with the people that welcomed her and made her feel like part of their family.

"Don't forget that time we were almost arrested because _someone_ couldn't control themselves in public." Rose recalled with an eye roll.

"Hey! How was I supposed to know public affection was illegal unless you were married." Jack shot back with a shrug, taking a sip of his water.

"And I don't remember any complaints at the time." He added giving her a wink.

It took the others a moment to catch on to what Jack was insinuating and Gwen raised an eyebrow as she looked over at Rose and then back at Jack.

"Wait, were you two?" She asked sounding quite surprised, the two were close that was clear but she wasn't aware they were _that close._

"Well, nights in the TARDIS could be cold and lonely sometimes.." He said dramatically, trying to hide his smirk as he looked over at Rose.

Rose reached over and punched him in the arm, it had been years since she and Jack had been _close_ in that sense and it hadn't even been brought up since she had returned. Regardless of what they had or hadn't been back then and what they were now, she did not want to be the subject of their conversation.

"Moving on." She said, giving Owen a daring glance as he looked as though he was about to add in two cents on the subject.

Before anyone else could add their two cents however Tosh's handheld device beeped.

"UFO sighting over Cardigan Bay, seven calls to emergency services." She told them.

"Can we at least finish our drinks please?" Owen asked with a sigh, so much for the night off.

"Sure, take ten seconds." Jack told them, downing his glass of water before getting up from his seat and heading out of the bar.

Rose rolled her eyes, taking a long sip of her beer before getting up and following after him, the others following suit.

The bar they had chosen wasn't that far from the hub so they had decided to walk, the air was brisk and Rose regretted not bringing a coat with her as she zipped up her jacket and folded her arms across her chest in hopes of fighting off the cold. Jack who had noticed her discomfort put an arm around her shoulders, rubbing her upper arm in an attempt to help her keep warm. She smiled at the gesture, putting an arm around his waist and bringing herself closer as they made their way back to the hub with the others, their earlier bickering long since forgotten.

They arrived back at the hub and after walking back in the chilly early evening air Rose was looking forward to one of Ianto's amazing coffees. Everyone filtered inside and headed over to their respective desks, Jack distributing tasks in order for them to get this UFO issue dealt with as swiftly as possible.

"Tosh pull up the radar within a fifty mile radius of the bay from the last six hours, Gwen check with that man Neil I think his name was, voice like Sean Connery at Jodrell Bank see if they picked up any chatter around the time of the sightings, Owen access the airspace provisional over Cardigan Bay and Rose look up any RAF flight plans and see if its just a case of mistaken identity." Jack gave everyone their jobs and they nodded as they got to work.

Rose looked up from her screen as Ianto passed her desk, shifting in her seat she tried to catch her friends eye.

"Hey Ianto, any chance of a coffee?" She asked with a smile.

Ianto turned at the sound of Rose's voice, he stared at her blankly for a moment before offering her a small nod.

"You alright?" She frowned at his weird behaviour, watching him closely as he nodded again.

"Fine, won't be a minute." He said giving her a small smile as he left to make her coffee.

Rose knew something was up and made a mental note to catch up with him once they'd sorted out this issue with the UFO and find out what was going on. She was just about to return her focus to her task when all of a sudden the power throughout the entire hub began fluctuating.

"What's going on?" She wondered aloud as the computers began rebooting themselves.

"Internal power drain." Tosh explained with a frown.

"What's causing it?" Gwen asked.

"Something big to drain that amount of power, Tosh run a system diagnostic." Jack said, wondering out of his office and over to the others.

"Actually we've been having generator problems all evening, I was down there checking earlier, couple of bits of cabling have come loose, I thought I'd fixed it." Ianto announced suddenly and everyone looked up at him. He was acting strange again but if anyone noticed they decided to let it go unmentioned, for now at least.

"Let me have another look." He told them as they all stared at him expectantly.

"Fine, go check." Jack told him with a nod.

"Want some help?" Rose offered with a smile.

"Fine!" Ianto called behind him as he headed off to try and sort out the power problem.

"Is it just me or is Ianto acting a bit weird?" Rose asked the others.

"Weirder than usual you mean?" Owen replied with a shrug leaning back in his chair.

"I've found our UFO." Tosh announced before Rose had a chance to come up with a retort.

Tosh brought up the footage on her screen and the others came to stand behind her. She slowed down the video so they could see the objects flying around the sky at speed.

"Thats a UFO?" Rose asked.

"Only Just." Owen explained.

"Arcan Leisure Crawler first generation collectors item, don't see many of those around these days." Jack added.

"Tosh sent a polite message saying great to see them but can they please get the hell out of our atmosphere they're spooking the locals." He told Tosh who nodded and got straight to work.

"Shouldn't we be apprehending it, investigating it?" Gwen asked.

"Oh please, you interrogate an Arcan and you'll be in there a month and that's just the first question, they're so boring, plus they're mostly made of liquid so the cells would be a mess." He explained with a shrug.

Just as Jack has finished speaking the power began fluctuating again, using his wrist device he activated his com to check on Ianto.

"Ianto we've got another dose of darkness, find anything?" He called through the coms.

"Ianto! I need to hear those beautiful welsh vowels." He continued after getting no response.

After another few moments of silence on Ianto's end Tosh ran a check and found that the power was being drained to the storeroom at the bottom of the building, she then checked of the number of heat signals coming from that area in hopes of finding answers as to why it was happening and why Ianto had gone MIA.

"Two signals." Owen said, looking at Jack.

"So assuming one belongs to Ianto, who's the other?" Rose asked.

"I'm thinking we're under attack, security's been breached, assume battle protocols!" Jack said as he ran down to the armoury.

"That impossible, nobody can't in without triggering seven separate alarms." Tosh explained, unable to comprehend how this could have happened.

"Yeah? Looks like our system needs to be upgrading." He summarised, handing everyone a gun.

"I'll head down and look for Ianto." Owen told him, making sure his gun was loaded and ready to go just incase,

"I'll go with you." Rose said, doing the same.

Jack looked at Rose and she could tell he wasn't happy about her literally throwing herself at the danger but he also knew it was her job and even if he wanted to stop her he couldn't.

"Keep your coms open at all times, any doubt shoot first, priority is to find Ianto." He told them, and they nodded before heading off in search of their friend.

* * *

Rose and Owen slowly made their way through the basement corridor towards the storeroom, flashlights their only source of light in the dark basement. They could see lights flashing through the window to the storeroom at the end of the corridor, throughout Rose's time at Torchwood thus far she had never been down to this area before but as far as she was aware there wasn't supposed to be anything down there anyway.

"Is there supposed to be something down here?" Rose asked, glancing at Owen whilst keeping her gun trained ahead just in case.

"Normally? No." He told her.

"Progress report."

Jack voice came through the coms as they made their way towards the storeroom.

"Signs of activity in the.." Owen's voice trailed off into static as the power drain caused a disruption with the coms.

"We're losing your com signals." Jack told them, unsure if they could even still hear him.

"We're going in to have a look." Rose told Jack through her com, unaware of the issue on his end.

"Jack? Tosh? Gwen?" Owen called through his com.

"Coms must be down." Rose guessed when they received no response.

"We're on our own then." Owen told her.

Owen looked through the window on the door to the storeroom but couldn't get a clear view of what was inside.

"Ready?" She asked as she unbolted the door and he used his key to unlock it.

"Yep." He nodded, kicking open the door and bursting through with his gun drawn.

It took them both a moment before they realised what was causing the power drain. They were frozen in fear and shock as they looked at the machine before them, _how?_ How was it possible for this to be in their basement.


	14. Chapter 14

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi! so this is the part 2 of cyberwoman and the 3rd and final part for this episode will be up later on today (its currently 5am), as always I hope you like it.

**Chapter 14**

**Cyberwoman Part 2**

"How is this possible?" Rose wondered aloud, her voice quiet but her fear at what they had just stumbled across very evident.

"We need to turn this off, now!" Owen yelled suddenly, sounding frantic.

Snapping out of her shock Rose nodded and turned the machine off, it was still active but no longer powered up. She moved back and stood beside Owen, wanting to get as far from it as possible.

"This thing brought down Torchwood One, they were all destroyed." He told her.

"I know, so how is there one in our bloody basement?" She questioned.

Rose knew all about this machine and what it could do, what it had done. This was only the remnants of a full conversion unit, but it was active and still just as deadly. The sheer thought of why it could possibly be there absolutely terrified her.

"If I don't hear something within thirty seconds I'm coming down there." Jack called through the coms.

Rose was relieved to hear Jack's voice through the coms, the relief was short lived however as she looked back at the piece of machinery in front of them.

"Jack, it's Rose, the coms dropped out but we're back online now." She explained.

"Any sign of Ianto?" Jack asked.

"No, but we have found parts of a cyber conversion unit, fully powered up and working." He told his boss through the coms.

"This is no time to be kidding around Owen."

What Owen was telling him sounded ridiculous and he could barely fathom the thought of it possibly being true.

"He's being deadly serious Jack." Rose said and he could tell by her voice that they weren't screwing around.

"I don't know why it's here or how it got here, but that's what's draining out power." Owen explained.

"Jack?" She called through the coms when he didn't respond.

"I want you two back up here immediately." Jack ordered.

Before Owen had a chance to respond he was struck from behind, Rose turned in time to see Owen fall and she came face to face with what appeared to be some sort of still partly human Cyberman. Her eyes were wide and her hand shook as she aimed her gun, she backed away to create some distance and tried to remain calm.

"Jack, code zero incursion, I repeat code zero incursion we are under attack." Rose's voice came over the coms and Jack's blood ran cold as he heard the fear behind her words.

The Cyber_woman(?) _advanced towards Rose and she backed away further until she was trapped, she had her gun raised despite knowing they were useless against Cybermen because if she was gonna go down then she would go down fighting.

"If you come any closer I will shoot you." Rose told the Cyber being. She had no idea if this woman had any humanity left as she wasn't fully converted and it was Rose's humanity that made her give her a chance to surrender just incase there was.

It all happened so fast that she had no time to react, the Cyberwoman knocked Rose's gun out of her hand and suddenly had her held tightly by the throat. Rose grasped at the hand around her neck to no avail, she was being backed up towards the conversion unit and when she realised that was when true fear really set in.

"Let me go!" Rose pleaded, which only made the hand gripping her throat tighten.

"Do not struggle, you will be like me." The Cyberwoman told her as she slammed her down onto the table.

The restraints closed around Rose's wrists and ankles and her head was held in place as the table shifted. The Cyberwoman switched the machine back on and Rose cried out as an electric current began circulating through the table.

"Jack!?" She screamed as she heard his voice, it sounded like there was some sort of struggle and she prayed he'd be able to reach her in time.

The unit on the ceiling above her suddenly opened and released an array of power tools, sharp, deadly power tools. There was nothing she could do apart from scream in absolute terror as they spun wildly above her.

"Switch it off!" She cried out as Jack and Ianto appeared beside her.

"I'm trying, she's changed all the circuits." Ianto told her as he tried to switch the machine off.

"Shut off the power everywhere!" He shouted to Jack frantically who quickly passed on the order to Tosh to shut down the power.

"Just do it! Switch it off!" Rose screamed as the blades and drills inched closer to her.

Everything suddenly stopped, the machine shut down and the lights went out but her restraints remained locked.

"Jack, please get me out of here." She begged.

"It's alright." Jack told her, trying to sound reassuring as he scanned the room with his flashlight.

"Stand guard by the door." He told Ianto before turning his attention back to Rose.

"I'm sorry, I'm really sorry." Ianto said looking at Rose before following Jack's order.

"What for?" She questioned, having no idea what he could possibly be sorry for.

Jack used his wrist device to release Rose from her restraints, the table shifted and he reached forward to help her down. They embraced for just a moment, long enough for them to assure the other they were still there.

"Lets get out of here." He told her and she nodded.

Jack picked up an unconscious Owen and carried him over his shoulder as Ianto led the way back into the corridor. The Cyberwoman suddenly appeared at the end of the corridor and they all stopped, she stared at them for a moment before walking away.

"Get us back to the hub." Jack ordered, cocking his gun and raising it to the back of Ianto's head.

"Jack what are you doing?" Rose asked in surprise at his actions.

"Resisting the urge to shoot." He told her, his voice full of disgust.

Ianto led them back into the main area of the hub, Jack set a semi conscious Owen down before ordering Tosh to empty the weapons room and bring them everything she could find.

"On your knees, hands above your head." He told Ianto, bringing his gun back to his head.

"What the hell are you doing?" Tosh asked in shock.

"Tosh, I gave you an order, Gwen go help her." He told them, sparing neither a glance as he stared at Ianto with a mix of anger and pure disgust.

Rose came to stand beside Jack, she had no idea why he was holding a gun to their friends head but she had never seen him so angry and wanted to be there in case things went too far.

"Did you know that thing was down there?" He questioned.

"I put her there." Ianto told him.

Rose's eyes grew wide at the revelation, their colleague, their _friend_ had been keeping something so deadly in their basement for god knows how long and had kept it secret from them all.

"You hid a Cyberman within Torchwood and you didn't tell us?" Jack could barely believe what he was hearing.

"What else are you hiding from us?" Rose asked, she thought Ianto was her friend and right now she had no idea who he was.

"Like either of you care, I clean up your shit no questions asked and that's the way you like it. When was the last time you asked me anything about my life?" He told them and Jack finally lowered his gun.

"Her name is Lisa, she's my girlfriend." He explained, his voice breaking as he spoke.

"Why didn't you tell us? We could have helped you." Rose said with a sigh, she and Ianto had spoke about the events of Canary Wharf but he never mentioned anything about his girlfriend.

"Torchwood exists to destroy alien threats, why would I tell you about her?"

"A little loyalty perhaps?" Owen asked with a shrug.

"My loyalty is with her, she worked for Torchwood, she was caught up in the battle, I owe it to her, we owe it to her to find a cure." He told them tearfully.

"Ianto I'm sorry but there is no cure there never will be, those who are converted stay that way, your girlfriend will not be the exception." Jack explained, his tone had softened but still firm.

"You can't know for sure." Ianto told him.

"You need to understand what's going on here, there is no turning her back, she needs to be stopped and we need to stop her, together."

"You aren't listening, the conversion was never completed." He tried to explain, standing up.

"She already tried to kill Rose, you think she's going to stop there? There is no turning back for her now." Jack tried to make him understand.

"I'm not giving up on her, I love her, can you understand that Jack? Haven't you ever loved anyone."

Rose's heart broke for him, she knew first hand how it felt to lose someone you loved so much but his actions had put them all in danger, he couldn't understand the severity of what he had done and it may well end up costing them their lives.

"You need to figure out what side you're on, because if you don't know then you're not gonna make it out of this alive." Jack told him before turning to the others so they could create an action plan.

"It's gonna take six hours for the power to come back online" Tosh told him.

"Let me talk to her, I can still save her, I can save all of us" Ianto offered.

As he spoke, Lisa appeared across from them. Ianto instantly made a b-line for his girlfriend and Jack held Gwen back as she tried to stop him, allowing him a chance to try and prove them wrong. As expected, she was too far gone to help despite Ianto's pleading. Lisa grabbed Ianto by the throat and threw him across the moat before turning to the others.

"Code nine manoeuvres, go!" Jack yelled and they all dispersed.

"Run, we all ran." Lisa told them as they all went in separate directions and shut themselves in the conference room.

"She's coming after us!" Rose said in a panic as she watched Lisa make her way up the steps towards their makeshift hiding spot.

"Well there's a surprise." Owen deadpanned.

"Could you be any less helpful?" Gwen shot back.

"Hey, I just helped you escape!" He told her.

"Shut up all of you!" Jack yelled as he tried to work out a plan.

"Ok, this is a fight to the death, we have to destroy her wherever it takes. Clear?" Jack looked at each of them and they nodded in agreement.

"Suzie scavenged this last year, she claimed it could open any lock in forty five seconds, I want you out the exit gates, up the emergency stairs to reception." Jack told Tosh, handing her a strange looking device.

"That door weighs a ton, there's no way she'll be able to open it without power." Owen told him.

"Anyway I'm not leaving you here." Tosh added.

"Just do as I say, all of you!" Jack told them all before explaining to Tosh exactly what he needed her to do once she reached the exit. He then turned to the other three.

"You three, find anything that even resembles a weapon." He told them.

"What are you gonna do?" Rose asked him.

"Buy you some more time, go!" He explained pointing towards the door as Lisa quickly approached.

Rose, Gwen and Owen left the conference room and narrowly avoided running into Lisa as they went in search of anything they could use against her. Owen and Rose headed down the autopsy whilst Gwen branched off to search elsewhere.

Rose stood by the steps to autopsy as she watched Jack try to reason with Lisa, she called out to him as he was shocked and Owen had to hold her back from running over. They both watched as he shakily got back to his feet, taunting her once more. Rose remembered what he had told her about his inability to die but she wasn't sure if there was a limit to how much he could sustain and she didn't want to find out. She shocked him once more and Owen led Rose away before she could clock them too.

Rose kept watch whilst Owen searched the trays of equipment in hopes of finding something they could use against the Cyberwoman. She glanced over at Owen to see if he had found anything viable, looking back she froze as she found Lisa staring right back at her.

"Shit." She mumbled to herself as she quickly ran down to Owen.

"Is there another exit?" She asked him as they stood by the autopsy table.

"No." Owen told her.

"So we're trapped."

Owen pulled open the door to an empty body storage drawer and gestured for her to get inside.

"No way." She told him, eying the small container wearily.

"Lie on top of me and it'll save us both." He explained and she shook her head.

"I am not lying on top of you."

"I'm not saying it's a brilliant idea but it's the only one we've got." He said hurriedly.

Rose sighed, she looked at the container again and then back at Owen before finally nodding. It took a moment but they managed to get themselves inside the drawer and the door closed before Lisa found them. She could barely believe the position they were currently in, and if they survived they may well laugh about it one day. The space was small, Rose was straddling Owen's lap with her hands either side of his head and his remained at his side as they listened closely for approaching metallic footsteps.

They heard movement above them before the sound became louder as Lisa made her way down the steps into the autopsy room. They were now officially trapped with no way of escaping and Rose could only hope for a miracle.

"What do we do?" She whispered.


	15. Chapter 15

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi, so here's the third and final chapter for Cyberwoman and I hope you all enjoy. We have Small Worlds coming up next and its one of my least favourites but none the less I hope to do it justice. Hoping to get that started pretty soon but in the meantime I hope you all like what I've done so far and feel free to leave me a comment letting me know your thoughts.
> 
> Thanks!

**Chapter 15**

**Cyberwoman Part 3**

He stared at her for a moment before slipping a hand into her hair and pulling her down to him so he could kiss her. She gasped as their lips met, she knew she should pull away and she definitely knew she'd regret her actions if they managed to live through this but before she could stop herself she kissed him back.

The sound of one of the other storage drawers opening and promptly slamming shut caused them to part, they needed to get out before Lisa reached their drawer. Pushing open their door, Rose climbed out first and came face to face with Lisa. She backed up around the autopsy table and Lisa followed until she was cornered.

"Don't you touch her!" Owen called out from behind Lisa, he waited until she turned around to face him before he plunged the surgical tool into an area not covered by steel.

Rose moved to stand beside him as Lisa cried out before falling back and becoming still.

"What the hell was that?" She asked, unable to take her eyes off Lisa just incase.

"What?" He asked back, glancing at her.

"Snogging me.." She clarified.

"Last kiss for the condemned man, little embarrassing given we haven't been killed." He explained with a shrug which earned him a disbelieving stare.

"What? It's not like I fancy you or anything." He continued.

"I was on top of you, I could feel your hard on." She told him.

"Yeah, well you didn't exactly struggle did you?" He shot back and before she could come up with a response Ianto came running down.

"We had no choice, it was kill or be killed." She explained as he kneeled down in front of his supposed dead girlfriend.

Lisa chose that moment to come back to life and they all backed up as she quickly got up. Rose grabbed Ianto's arm and pulled him away as she advanced on them, the trio ran up the steps and back into the main area of the hub where Rose was relieved to find Jack and Gwen.

"You should be dead." Owen said, looking at Jack.

"I'm the stubborn type." Jack told him as he lit a blow torch and picked up a container full of some sort of liquid.

"Get behind me!" He told them as Lisa got closer, holding the blowtorch at the ready.

"The power will run out, I can wait." Lisa told them.

"Jack help her, give her a chance to surrender." Ianto begged as he tried to step forward only to be held back by the others.

"Have you not seen what she's done?" Owen asked him, surprised and angry at his continued insistence.

"Let her stay in the cells, we can still find a way to reverse the process!" Ianto pleaded with his boss.

"I told you we're past that." Jack told him.

"What are you gonna do?" Rose asked, hoping he had some sort of plan.

"Don't ask questions, just get him on there and hold him!" Jack told her, squirting whatever liquid was in the container he had all over Lisa.

"What is that stuff?" Gwen spoke up this time.

"Kind of like a barbecue sauce, it helps her identify its food." He told her as he stepped back, dropping the bottle he turned off the blowtorch and joined them on the lift.

"Helps what identify its food?" She asked in confusion just before a loud shrieking filled the air.

"I'm so sorry." Jack told Ianto as he waited on Tosh to finish her task so he could get them out.

"Rose looked away as the pterodactyl began attacking Lisa, focussing on holding Ianto still as the lift rose up to the street. She stepped off as soon as it stopped, finally able to breath a sigh of relief. Tosh came running across to meet them and she was glad to see her friend had made it out ok as well.

No one had the chance to stop him as Ianto suddenly lunged forward and punched Jack in the face, Rose stepped in front of him and pushed him back as Jack stumbled.

"One day, I'll have the chance to save you and I'll watch you suffer and die." Ianto told Jack and Rose came to stand between the two again as Jack bit back.

"It was the only thing that would stop her!" He screamed at him as Owen held him back.

Tosh chose that moment to tell them that she had managed to trip the lock down timer and power to the hub should be returning anytime. She had barely finished her sentence before Ianto took off towards the visitors centre.

They were all a short distance behind Ianto as he made it back to the visitors centre, following him inside they all stopped abruptly as they were met with the barrel of a gun.

"Ianto, don't be stupid." Rose called out to him as she held up her hands in defence, this guy was supposed to be their friend, they were supposed to be a family and here he was pointing a gun at them like some sort of mad man.

"I have nothing left to lose." He told her, shifting the gun and pointing it at each of them as he backed towards the door.

"There's always something left to lose." Jack spoke up, holding out his hands in hopes of getting the gun off of him before he hurt somebody.

"I'm going back in to save her, anyone tries to stop me and I'll shoot them." He told them.

He hesitated for just a moment and it was all the time Jack needed to move forward and grab the gun from him, pushing him against the doorframe he pulled out his pistol and held it to Ianto's head.

"You make a threat like that, you better be prepared to follow through, you disobey me now and I really will shoot you." He told Ianto, holding him tighter as he fought against him.

"If you're going back in there, you go in there and finish the job, if she's still alive you execute her." He ordered, letting Ianto go and stepping back as the man turned to face him.

"No way." He replied tearfully.

"Its time for you to stand as part of the team, the girl you loved has gone, your loyalty is to us now." Jack continued, holding the gun steadily pointed at his dead.

Rose stepped forward and put a hand on Jacks arm, she had never seen him this angry before and although she knew it was justified she was also worried about what he might end up doing if this continued to escalate.

"Jack." She said softly, trying to calm him down.

"You can't make me do it." Ianto told him.

"You execute her or I'll execute you both." Jack was beginning to sound as desperate as Ianto and for a moment Rose actually thought he might be seriously considering following through with his threat.

"You like to think you're a hero but you're the biggest monster of all." Ianto told him in disgust.

"You have ten minutes, and then we're coming in." Jack said finally, stepping away and gesturing to Ianto's discarded gun.

"Pick it up." He told him.

Ianto finally picked up his discarded gun and after looking at them all for another moment he took off through the door and sprinted towards the entrance to the hub.

"How can you ask him to.." Tosh called out, in shock at his cruel actions.

"I don't need your opinion." Jack told her, holstering his pistol.

Jack had agreed to give Ianto ten minutes, if he didn't get the job done then he had ten minutes to say his final goodbyes before he did it for him. It was a very tense atmosphere in the visitor centre as they had all seen a side to their boss that they had never seen before. Rose took a deep breath and leaned back against the wall Ianto had been pinned against only minutes before, she looked up at Jack and could see the fear in his eyes, being the boss meant he had to make decisions the others sometimes wouldn't dream of making and she couldn't begin to imagine how difficult it must be for him.

"This isn't your fault Jack." She tried to assure him.

He sighed, there was no one else to blame but himself. First Suzie and now Ianto, he didn't know what he was doing to lead his team down such a path but he vowed to himself that this would be the last time.

"Lets go." He said, glancing back at the others and then back at Rose before he headed through the door Ianto had taken and making his way down to the hub entrance.

They made their way back inside the hub and were instantly met with the alarm, their power was back on but was also once again being drained which could only mean one thing. They also noticed pizza boxes thrown across the floor that appeared to be fresh and praying their theories weren't correct they headed down to the basement as quickly as they could.

Ianto's conversation could be heard as the team made their way down the corridor towards the storeroom, Lisa had not only killed again but she had stolen the poor girls body in hopes of trying to convince him she was finally human again and should therefore be given another chance. They gave him the chance to finally end it himself but he couldn't bring himself to do it, Jack fired the first shot at her and the others followed suit firing a single shot of their own to make sure she was finally dead for good this time. No one said a word as Lisa finally took her last breath, they all lowered their guns and watched as Ianto fell to his knees beside both women and sobbed.

* * *

No one had said barely a word to Ianto since they had finally taken down Lisa, they had gotten everything cleared up fairly quickly and if you weren't privy to the information then you would barely believe that a Cyberman had been living in the basement for a questionable amount of time before rampaging through the hub. The status of Ianto's employment was still up in the air, Jack hadn't told anyone not even Rose whether or not he would be let go for what he had done and what he had nearly caused and the others weren't sure what they hoped the outcome would be. If he was let go then it wouldn't come as a surprise, but if he was to be given another chance then it would take him a long time to gain back everyones trust and forgiveness for what he had put them all through.

Ianto was currently making his round with a rubbish bag, cleaning up any remaining evidence of what had happened. The others were busy doing their own thing and Rose was making herself a cup of coffee, she still hadn't quite gotten over the events of the day before and she was trying to keep her mind occupied with anything else other than the fact she nearly became the thing she feared the most, or at least a version of it.

"Rose?"

Rose looked up from her task when she heard her name and found Ianto standing a short distance away, she wasn't sure what to say or even if she wanted to say anything at all so she just stared at him in silence and waited for him to continue.

"Rose I'm sorry, I'm so sorry." He told her and she knew he was apologising for the fallout as opposed to his actions that had led to the fallout in the first place.

"I trusted you." She said finally.

"You knew what those things were capable of, you've seen first hand what they can do and yet you brought one here and kept it a secret from us all." She continued, her voice remaining seemingly calm as she laid out his betrayal.

Ianto let her say her peace, hoping that would she find it in herself to forgive him. They had confided in each other on several occasions in the past, Rose had told him some things she hadn't even told Jack and he told her thing he knew the others would never understand. Their closeness before now only made what he had done hurt her even more.

"You built a fucking conversion unit Ianto, something your girlfriend tried to use to turn me into one of them!" Her voice rose as she carried on, any fear she still felt from the ordeal the night before quickly giving way to anger.

He knew she was right, what he had done was wrong even if he had done it for the right reasons.

Arguing with him wasn't going to change what had happened and like the others she wanted the put it all behind her, even if forgiving him was going to take a while. Ianto had nothing else to say and neither did Rose, she left her half made coffee next to the machine and walked past him without another word.

* * *

Rose found Jack standing by the conference room window overlooking the hub, he was keeping an eye on Ianto as he made his rounds making sure everything was cleared.

"Hey." She called out as she came to stand beside him, folding her arms across her chest.

"You alright?" He asked looking over at her and she surmised that he must have seen her and Ianto's exchange.

"I will be." She replied with a small smile.

They both stood in a comfortable silence for a few moments before Rose remembered something from the night before that she wanted to address with him.

"When she had hold of you, I thought, just for a moment that maybe you could actually die after all." She told him, unable to keep the fear out of her voice at the thought that she could have lost him for good.

"You wanna know a secret?" He asked her and she nodded.

"So did I, and just for a second there I felt so alive."


	16. Chapter 16

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi! I feel like its been ages since I last uploaded which means it probably has been. I say this a lot but this wasn't one of my favs, which makes it harder for me to come up with ideas on what to write. It's an uncomfortable episode and pretty sad, man I nearly cried whilst rewatching for ideas. Anyway, here we are. I have the second chapter for this episode nearly ready to go too so I am hoping to get it all up in the next couple of days. As always, I hope you enjoy and don't forget to let me know what you think!
> 
> Enjoy!

**Chapter 16**

**Small Worlds Part 1**

Rose emerged from Jack's office, running a hand through her hair she let out a yawn as she made her way over to Jack and Ianto. She had heard voices and upon checking the time she found it to be unusually early for anyone other than her and Jack to be in the hub, so ignoring the voice inside her head telling her to go back to sleep she decided to drag herself out of bed and find out what was going on.

Jack and Ianto both looked up from the monitor as they heard footsteps approaching and Jack couldn't help the thought entering his mind of how cute Rose looked first thing in the morning.

"What's goin' on?" She asked them, folding her arms across her chest as she came to stand beside Jack.

"There's been some weird weather patterns recently." Ianto told her before turning back to the computer.

Rose frowned, leaning her head against Jack shoulder she raised a hand to her face as she let out another yawn.

"Weather patterns." She repeated for clarification.

"You're here at stupid o'clock because of weather patterns." She continued, looking at Ianto as if he had sprouted a second head.

Jack smirked, putting his arm around Rose's shoulders he pressed a quick kiss to the top of his sleepy friends head.

"Go back to bed, we've got this covered." He told her with a smile.

She shook her head, releasing another dramatised sigh she stepped out of Jack's grasp and rubbed her eyes in an attempt to wake herself up.

"I'm already up now, I'll get us coffee." She told them with a shrug.

"I'll do it." Ianto announced suddenly, standing from his seat and making to move before Rose held up her hand to stop him.

"It's fine, I can do it." She assured him with a smile.

She waited for him to sit back down before she turned away from the pair and made her way over to the coffee machine. It had been nearly two weeks since the Cyberman incursion, Jack had made the decision to keep Ianto around despite his betrayal and he had been working above and beyond to prove himself as a worthy member of the team. He and Rose had barely spoken in the days following the incident and although since then they had made small talk it wasn't clear if they'd ever get back to the way they had been before.

Rose returned a few minutes later with three cups, she passed one to Jack who accepted it with a smile of thanks and set one down on the desk Ianto was sat at before pulling out a chair and sitting herself down beside him with her own.

* * *

They spent the remaining hours before the others arrived monitoring the weather patterns, there was little else to do other than make notes of the changes and the places in which it was happening so if it occurred more frequently they could look into it further.

The day officially began as the others filtered in, it had been a fairly slow morning and there was very little activity going on with the rift so it appeared as though the day would continue in a similar way to how it had started.

Rose was leaning back in her chair, her third coffee of the day sat on her desk in front of her as she stared at her screen with a frown. She never wished for trouble but at this point she willed for just something, _anything._

"Hey Rosie!"

She looked over to where the voice had come from and gave Jack a smile as she met his eye, he was the only person other than her ex Jimmy to call her by that name and unlike said ex he was the only one she allowed to get away with referring to her by the nickname.

"Fancy taking a trip?" He asked, already grabbing his coat and slipping it on as he waited for her response.

"Definitely." She told him with a nod, grateful to finally have something to do.

"Gwen?" Jack called over to her colleague who also nodded.

"Where are we going?" Rose asked as she grabbed her jacket and followed Gwen and Jack towards the exit.

"I had an invitation from an old friend." He told them simply, his response only raising more questions and giving zero answers.

* * *

The trio made their way down the street towards what appeared to be a hall of sorts, Rose looked at the flyers in the cabinets outside and her eyebrows rose in surprise as she realised the event they were attending.

"Fairies? Really Jack?" She asked him skeptically, they had both seen there fair share of interesting things but even after all of that, fairies still seemed a bit farfetched.

Jack looked back with a smirk, offering them both little more than a shrug before making his way inside.

The presentation had already begun as they entered the main hall so they took seats at the back as to not disturb those listening. An elderly woman stood at the front of the room, flicking through photographs on a projector as she explained to her audience about the creatures she had longed to see and had finally been able to capture. Her photographs were blurry but as she switched over to another a figure of light could be seen, it was more of a squint and you may be able to trick yourself into thinking it was some kind of firefly but to this woman, it was a fairy and she seemed very pleased with her discovery.

The talk was concluded with the woman explaining how despite what others may believe, she not only believed in their existence but she was also sure that they were friendly creatures and her being able to catch a glimpse of them was very much a privilege. Rose and the others applauded politely once it was over, although Jack seemed less than pleased with what had been discussed.

"She always gets it wrong." Jack told them with a sigh.

Before either Rose or Gwen had a chance to ask him to elaborate, he had already stood and was making his way over to the front of the room to the elderly woman who was now getting her things together ready to pack away.

They both stood and headed over to him, Gwen took another seat in a nearby chair whilst Rose came to stand beside Jack as he went through the photographs once more.

"Estelle when did you take these?" Jack asked the woman as he studied the photographs more closely.

"Couple of nights ago." Estelle told him with a smile.

"Where?" He continued.

"Roundstone wood." She added.

"That's not far from here." Gwen chimed in which earned her a nod of confirmation from Estelle.

Estelle passed Jack more photographs to look through, one of which showing the woods where she had first encountered the so called fairies.

"You alright?" Rose asked, noticing his sudden frown as he looked through the most recent photo.

"Jack and I have always disagreed about fairies, I only see the good ones and he only ever sees the bad." Estelle explained.

"They're all bad." Jack stated firmly and Estelle shook her head.

"I refuse to believe it." She told him with a shrug.

"I suppose one persons good could be another persons evil." Rose offered with a small smile.

"That's what his father used to say." Estelle said.

Rose's smile fell and she shot Jack a questioning glance, she knew he was from the 51st century so it would be impossible for Estelle to have met his father. He avoided her eye and she made a mental note to bring it up later when they were alone.

"Do you have any more of these?" Jack asked her and she nodded.

"I need to see them all." He told her.

* * *

The three of them helped Estelle pack away the rest of her things before accompanying her back to her home so she could show them the rest of her photographs.

They set the equipment down in Estelle's living room as she retrieved a folder full of photographs and offered it to Jack.

"They're mostly just pictures of the area." She told him.

She walked over to her sofa and picked up her cat, fussing over the feline she left the living room to let it out to play in the garden leaving the trio alone.

Rose leaned against the table with her arms folded as Jack flicked through the photographs, Gwen on the other hand was admiring the photographs on top of the fireplace.

"This is you." Gwen announced, walking over with a picture that sure enough looked identical to Jack.

Jack looked at the picture Gwen was holding, trusting Rose not to say anything he offered Gwen a smile.

"Sorry, no, that's my dad." He told her, taking the picture from her and moving to place it back where she had found it.

"He and Estelle were inseparable once upon a time." He added.

"Why did they part?" Gwen asked.

Rose stood in silence as she listened to the story, Jack had never mentioned Estelle to her before and as ridiculous as it sounded and felt she almost felt jealous of the connection they clearly shared.

"It was wartime, he was posted abroad and she volunteered to work on the land, it just happened that way." He explained, picking up another old photograph and passing it to Gwen before walking back over to where Rose was stood.

Gwen smiled as he told her the story, she studied the photograph for a few moments before putting it back.

"I'm gonna go check on Estelle." She told them before leaving the room and heading through the house and out into the garden.

Rose took the advantage of their newfound privacy and moved closer to Jack, putting a hand on his arm she offered him a small smile. She couldn't imagine how hard it must have been for him, to watch someone he loved grow old whilst he remained the same. It was the one thing that had kept The Doctor from allowing her in completely before they had been separated, but the difference with Jack was that his immortal burden was her fault.

"You saved my life that day Rosie, I've loved people I never would have known if it wasn't for you." He told her, as if he could sense where her thoughts were heading.

"Everything that's happened has brought me to where I am today, and I wouldn't change it for the world." He continued with a smile.

Rose returned his smile, glad he didn't blame her for what had happened and she'd also be lying if she said she wasn't somewhat glad for the outcome for her own selfish reasons.

"Let's grab Gwen and get back to the others." He said after a moment and she nodded.

Jack took the folder with him and they both headed outside to where Gwen and Estelle were on the tailed end a conversation about Jacks 'father'.

"Estelle, when you next see these creatures I want you to call us immediately, understand?" Jack asked his old friend as he came to stand beside her.

Estelle nodded with a smile and he continued.

"Night or day it doesn't matter, and please be careful."

"But Jack I have nothing to worry about." She assured him.

He sighed and put his arm around her shoulders, kissing the top of her head.

"Just be careful, please." He asked her again.

The trio bid Estelle goodbye and despite her insistence that she would be fine, she assured Jack that she could give them a call should she see her friends again.

"Estelle shouldn't be living in town, she belongs the countryside." Jack voiced his thoughts aloud as they left her home and headed down the street back to where Jack had parked the suv.

"How often do you get to see her?" Rose asked, hoping Jack couldn't sense the slight jealousy she felt in her voice. She knew she had no reason to feel that way, whatever he and Estelle were had been over for literal decades, not to mention she and Jack were just friends and had been nothing more than that for a long time.

"We meet up every now and again." He told her with a shrug, if he sensed anything off in her tone then he didn't mention it.

"Whenever she sees her fairies?" Gwen chimed in with a smile.

"She calls them fairies, I don't." He stated firmly, disapproval of the given nickname evident in his tone.

"What do you call them?" She asked him.

"Never really had a name for them." He replied simply.

"Why not?" She continued to question.

"Something from the dawn of time, how could you possibly put a name to that." He told her.

"So are we talking alien or what?" Rose spoke up.

"They're worse than that." Jack said with a shake of his head.

"They're part of us, part of our world and we know nothing about them, we have no idea what they look like, so we pretend, we see them as happy with tiny little wings and bathed in moonlight." He continued.

"And they're not?" Rose assumed.

"No, think dangerous, something you can only half see like a glimpse, like something out of the corner of your eye, with a touch of myth, a touch of the spirit world and a touch of reality all jumbled together, old moments and memories that are frozen in amongst it, like debris spinning around a ringed planet, tossing, turning, whirling. Then backwards and forwards though time."

At some point during Jack's explanation, the three of them had come to a stop. Gwen still seemed skeptical but Rose had seen enough in her time to know whatever it was they were dealing with shouldn't be taken lightly.

"If it is them, we have to find them, before all hell breaks loose." He finished and Rose almost thought she could sense some fear in his voice. If this threat even had Jack scared, then she was terrified.


	17. Chapter 17

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi! So here's the second part for Small Worlds, I'll have the third and final chapter up tomorrow. Enjoy!

**Chapter 17**

**Small Worlds Part 2**

They arrived back at the hub and Jack gathered them all in the conference room so they could research these so called _fairies _further.

"This is the youngest girl, and this is the girls cousin." Tosh explained as she brought up two of the Cottingley Fairies photographs on the screen.

"I thought those photographed were faked?" Rose asked.

"Conan Doyle believed in them." Owen told her.

"He was gaga at the time." Gwen chimed in.

"And Houdini?" He shot back.

"Self publicist." She continued with a shrug.

"How do you know so much about this?" Jack asked.

"Because I wrote an essay on the Cottingley glass plate photographs when I was at school" She told them which caused Owen to snigger.

Rose resisted the urge to roll her eyes and hid her smirk behind her coffee cup as Gwen continued.

"And when the girls were old ladies they admitted they were fakes."

"Where was this sighting?" Tosh chimed in as she brought up one of the photographs Estelle had taken.

"In a place called Roundstone wood." Jack explained.

"I know that place, got a bit of an odd history." Owen told him.

"What do you mean odd?" He asked.

"It always stayed wild." He said with a shrug.

"Back in ancient times it was considered bad luck to walk in there, even the romans avoided it." He continued.

"There haven't been any reports of any sightings." Tosh told them.

"You won't, these things stay under the radar, but they play tricks with the weather so set up a program for unnatural weather patterns." Jack said and she nodded."

"Jack, are you saying our machines can't pick them up?" Rose asked him with a frown.

"Nothing can." He told her with a shake of his head.

"Right, who's up for a little trip?" He announced suddenly, rising from his seat.

"Tosh, keep an eye on those weather patterns. Owen, Gwen, Rose with me, we're gonna check out these woods." Jack gave them their tasks and made his way out of the conference room, Into stayed behind to clear away their coffee cups whilst the others followed him.

* * *

The group made their way through the woods, following Jack as he navigated the area in search of the spot in which Estelle's photos had been taken. Rose hung back with Owen as Gwen and Jack walked ahead, she could hear Gwen trying to pry further information out him about his father and wasn't surprised when he gave her a simple answer with a tone that very much said he wouldn't be going into any further detail.

"The stones from the photographs." Rose announced as they came to a clearing where a set of stones were placed in a circle.

"Anyone could have made this circle!" Gwen told them, throwing up her arms in disbelief.

"What's your problem?" Rose shot back, annoyance evident in her voice.

"I'm doing my job." Gwen said with a shrug, unfazed by Rose's demeanour.

"No you're not, the danger of these things is being spelled out for you and all you're doing is looking for explanations." Rose continued, she was sick of Gwen doubting them all the time.

"That's what police work is all about." Gwen replied as calmly as she had before which only irritated Rose further.

"You're not in the police anymore, you're part of this team now and you need to start acting like it." Rose told her bluntly.

Gwen had remained calm throughout their disagreement but her final comment hit her in a different way and finally made her snap.

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" Gwen shot back, her voice rising.

Jack and Owen had been watching their exchange in silence, Owen with a smirk as he found the entire thing quite amusing and Jack on standby incase things escalated. Rose had a point, he was starting to get frustrated with Gwen's lack of faith in him and had she not beat him to it he would have probably said something himself.

"That's enough." Jack called out and they both looked at him.

"We've all got jobs to do here, let's get them done and get back to the hub." He continued, deciding not to weigh in on their argument.

Rose sighed but nodded nonetheless, heading over to where Owen was she kneeled down beside him and got to work in silence. Gwen had a similar response and shot Rose one last glance before getting to work.

"You're quite hot when you're angry." Owen whispered to Rose with a smirk and she rolled her eyes.

"You're such a pig." She told him, punching him in the arm which caused him to lose his balance and fall sideways onto the ground.

She couldn't hold in her laughter as he fell, watching him with a smirk of her own as he shot her a glare and got back up. They finished the rest of their work in relative silence before packing up their things and heading back to the suv, Rose and Gwen hadn't said another word to each other since their argument and neither made any effort at conversation on their way back to the hub either.

* * *

They had barely made it back to the hub when Jack received a phone call from the local station about a suspicious death involving one of their inmates, he figured it wouldn't be the best idea to have Gwen and Rose together after their recent spat so had Gwen stay behind and go through the samples they had collected from the woods and headed off to the station with Rose and Tosh.

The officer in charge led Jack and Rose through the station as Tosh dealt with things behind the scenes.

"We had him locked up on his own the entire time, he was shouting the odds when he was first brought in, said things were following him" The officer told them as he unlocked the gate separating them from the main cells.

"What kind of things?" Jack asked him.

"Shadows he said, and he was going on about being choked." He explained.

"There were four other prisoners, who saw nothing." Tosh chimed in as she appeared behind them.

"Where are they now?" Rose asked.

"I had them transferred." She told her and Rose nodded.

"CCTV?" Jack questioned.

"I'm dealing with it." She assured him.

"At first we thought he was drunk or a nutcase, or maybe both." The officer explained as he led them down the hallway towards the cell.

He opened the door to the cell and stepped aside to allow them entry, a man lay on the floor in the middle of the room and Tosh came to kneel beside him so she could assess the body.

"His name is Mark Goodson, worked in town as a business consultant." Tosh relayed the information she had found out minutes before.

"Cause of death?" Jack asked.

"Going by the pin point haemorrhages on the eye lids and around the hairline I'd say oxygen deficiency, but it's odd, there's no finger tip bruising on the face and no areas of pallor." She explained.

"Nothing to suggest any pressure was applied." Rose summarised and Tosh nodded.

"So he suffocated, alone in a locked cell." She kneeled down next to the body as Tosh stood back up, trying to understand how it was possible.

Leaning forward to see if there was anything that would indicate how the cause of death was possible, she opened the victims mouth slightly and frowned as she saw something inside.

"Wait a minute." She muttered, reaching back she grabbed a pair of tweezers from her case before carefully reaching into his mouth to extract whatever it was.

They all watched in silent shock as Rose pulled what looked to be petals out of the victims mouth.

"I've never seen anything like that before." Tosh said in surprise.

'I have." Jack said and Rose looked up at him, he said nothing further so she assumed he would wait until they were with the rest of the team before he told his story.

They made the necessary arrangement in regard to body disposal and got all the information they needed before heading back to the hub. Tosh had collected the footage from the CCTV inside the cell and once back they brought it up on the screen in the conference room so they could see exactly what had happened.

There was no evidence on the recording that anyone or anything else had been in the cell with the victim, it looked as though he was having some kind of fit but they knew it was the work of the near invisible creatures.

"Did you know the dead man was a convicted pedophile, he used to hang around schools." Jack told them, disgust evident in his voice.

"But why put petals in his mouth?" Rose asked.

"Just a bit of fun on their part." He explained with a shrug.

"You call that fun?" Gwen piped up, a grim smile on her face.

"Thats the way these creatures like to do things, they play games, they torment and then they kill." He told her.

"But why?" Rose asked.

"As punishment, or a warning to others, they protect their own, the chosen ones." He said.

"How do we stop them?" Tosh asked.

"We need to find out who they want, we can't trap them because they have control of the elements, sometimes I think they might be part mara." He explained.

"Mara?" Rose repeated.

"They're a kind of malignant wraiths, it's where the word nightmare came from, they suffocate people in their sleep." He told them.

The landline on the table suddenly began ringing and everyone jumped, Jack reached over and pressed the button to answer the call and put it on speaker.

"Yeah?" He called out to the caller.

"Jack, it's me Estelle." Came the voice on the other end, it was Estelle and she sounded scared.

"What is it?" Jack asked, sensing the fear in her voice.

"You're right Jack, there are bad ones, they've come to me." She told him.

"Estelle we're on our way, stay where you are and don't go anywhere near them do you understand?" He told her, the others already getting up and preparing to leave.

"Yes." She agreed and only then did Jack disconnect the call.

They wasted no time and rushed straight out, Tosh monitored the weather conditions on route to Estelle's house and found that despite it being a completely dry night there was a patch of rain in one specific area. Behind Estelle's home.

Jack pulled up outside the house and everybody rushed out, the front door was unsurprisingly locked so they made their way around the back hoping they weren't too late.

"Estelle!?" Jack called out as he rushed into the garden in search of his friend.

He came to an abrupt stop when he found her lying on the ground, Owen looked up from his place at her side.

"It looks like she died from drowning even though the rest of the garden is dry as a bone." He explained to his boss.

Everyone but Rose dispersed as Jack dropped to her side, he slid her eyes closed before gathering her in his arms.

Rose took a deep breath to try and keep her own tears at bay as she kneeled down beside Jack, putting a hand on his shoulder she couldn't think of anything she could possibly say to make the situation any less devastating.

"We once made a vow, that we'd be with each other until we died." He told her quietly, tears slowly making their way down his cheeks.

Rose stood, giving him a moment of privacy as she wiped her own tears away. After a few moments he rose to his feet and she reached for his hand, he looked at her and after another brief moment he pulled her into his arms. She held him tight as she felt his tears land on her shoulder, he had been there for her so many times and it was now her turn to return the favour.

Neither were sure how long they were stood holding each other before Jack finally pulled away, he stepped away from Rose and ran a hand down his face, wiping away his remaining tears and releasing a long breath.

"I need a drink." He told her, unable to bring himself to look at Estelle again he wondered back towards the suv.

Rose followed him to where the others were waiting for them, no one said anything to them and the drive back to the hub was made in silence.


	18. Chapter 18

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi, so here's the third and final chapter for Small Worlds. I also just wanted to say a quick thank you to those who have stuck around and are still following the story, those who have left comments and kudos it really means a lot. I've been a reader for years and despite trying my hand at writing my own a long time ago I only recently got the itch to try again and I'm grateful to those giving my stories a chance. It's Christmas in 9 days so if I don't get anything up before then Merry Christmas to you all. As always I welcome your feedback, so feel free to drop me a comment letting me know your thoughts.

**Chapter 18**

**Small Worlds Part 3**

Jack headed straight for his office as soon as they arrived back, stopping only briefly so he could tell his team to head home for the evening. Rose bid the others good night and after assuring them she would make sure Jack was ok she made her way to his office.

She walked inside to find him sat behind his desk with a glass of scotch in his hand, there was another glass waiting for her and she gave him a small smile as she took a seat in front of his desk.

"How did you and Estelle meet?" She asked, picking up her glass and taking a sip.

"In London at the Astoria ballroom, it was a few weeks before Christmas, seventeen years old and she was beautiful." Jack recalled their first meeting with a smile.

"It was love at first sight, but nothing lasted back then, promises were always being broken." He continued, his smile faltering as the memory of his loves final moments replayed in his mind.

"Estelle, to have to die like that." He emptied the remainder of his glass and set it down with a shaky hand.

Rose knew there was nothing she could say or do to change how Jack was currently feeling, so instead tried to shift his focus back onto their current case.

"The petals we found in Goodson's mouth, you said you'd seen them before, was that back in the war?" She asked.

Jack shook his head.

"It was nineteen o'nine, I was on a troop train with fifteen men, with me in charge. Everyone was happy, too happy, too noisy." He started before pausing for a moment.

"Then we hit a tunnel, we thought some birds had flown in through an open window, then came the silence." He continued.

"And when we came out of the tunnel all fifteen men were dead, they'd been suffocated, men I was responsible for." He finished, shaking his head as he tried to shake away the images filling his mind.

"But why were they killed?" She asked, leaning forward in her seat.

"About a week earlier, some of them got drunk and drove a truck through a village, ran over a child and killed her, the child was a chosen one." He explained.

She let out a long breath as he finished the story, downing the rest of her drink she leaned back in her seat and tried to process what it was they were dealing with.

* * *

They had sat in relative silence for a while, Jack trying to come to terms with what had happened and Rose unsure of what she should say if anything. It had been a hell of a day and she was starting to think about turning in for the night when Jack received a phone call from a frantic Gwen, she hadn't given him a lot of details but told him he needed to get to her place as soon as he could. Sleep would have to wait, she thought with a sigh and grabbed her jacket before they set off for Gwen's place.

Gwen let them both in when they arrived, they followed her inside and were shocked to find her place looked as though it had been ransacked. She had already started clearing some of the mess away but there were still objects scattered around the place as well as leaves and twigs littering the floor.

"They know where I live, these creatures can invade my life whenever they feel like it and I am scared Jack!" She exclaimed, shaking her head in disbelief as she tried to keep her emotions in check.

"You said these creatures protect their own, the chosen ones, what are they?" Rose asked him.

She couldn't imagine how Gwen must be feeling, these creatures had killed Estelle for simply getting too close and now they were targeting members of their team. They needed to find a way to stop these things before anyone else got killed.

"All these so called fairies were children once from different moments in time, going back millennia, part of the lost lands." He explained, picking up the pieces of stone left behind and examining them.

"What lost lands?" Gwen chimed in, she was scared and confused and his cryptic answers were beginning to frustrate her.

"The lands that belong to them." He continued, turning to face her.

"Well, what do they want?" She asked.

"What's theirs, the next chosen one." He stated simply.

Jack and Rose stuck around for a short while, helping Gwen clean up the mess and putting things that weren't broken back in their respective places. They decided to take their leave before Rhys arrived home and bid Gwen goodnight, telling her they'd see her in the morning.

"Rose?" Gwen called out and Rose stopped in the doorway, turning back with a questioning glance.

"Can I have a quick word? Before you go." She asked.

Rose nodded and looked to Jack who offered them both a smile.

"Take your time, I'll be outside." He told her before heading out.

"What's up?" Rose asked, stepping back into the room.

"About earlier." Gwen began and Rose sighed, it had been a long day and she really wasn't in the mood for another argument.

Gwen had openly dismissed the existence of these creatures and she knew that was why they had targeted her, she was also feeling bad about the argument it had caused between herself and Rose.

"I wanted to apologise." She continued much to Rose's surprise.

Rose had always hated confrontation, especially with people she cared about. She would be lying to herself if she said she didn't feel like most of what she had said was justified given how Gwen had been acting but despite that she also felt guilty that it had turned into an argument in the first place and was glad that it seemed she felt the same way.

"I'm sorry too." Rose replied and was relieved when Gwen offered her a smile.

She ventured further into the room and the two women shared a hug, they may not always see eye to eye but as well as being colleagues they were friends and Rose was glad to have someone like Gwen in her life.

"Call us if anything else happens ok?" She told her as they parted and Gwen nodded.

"Night Gwen." She said with a smile before heading out to find Jack.

He was waiting in the suv for her when she got outside, she got into the passenger side and he gave her a curious glance as she buckled her seatbelt.

"Everything ok?" He asked.

"Everything's fine." She told him with a smile and he nodded, starting up the vehicle before setting off back to the hub.

* * *

Everyone was in bright and early the next morning and it was all a go, Tosh was monitoring the weather patterns as Jack and Rose walked into the conference room.

"I want a check on all unexplained deaths in the area." He told her and she nodded.

"Whats the weather forecast for today?" Tosh asked, not looking up from her laptop.

"Long sunny spells." Ianto chimed in.

"It's happening again." She said, pinpointing the location of a sudden weather surge and projecting it onto the monitor for them all to see.

"Lets go!" Jack told them.

"I don't understand, it's just going crazy." She said trying to find out more information behind the sudden surge.

"Just leave it." He called over his shoulder as he left the conference room.

Tosh made a note of the address before heading out after him. Everyone bar Ianto filed out and headed for the suv, the location was a primary school which luckily wasn't that far away.

They arrived at the school as parents were leaving with their children. Jack, Owen and Tosh all headed inside whilst Gwen and Rose wondered over to the playground where the staff were clearing up the mess left behind by the sudden wind storm. Large branches littered the ground and they could only hope no one had been seriously injured. The teachers disappeared from view with their rubbish bags and the two women looked around in case the creatures had decided to stick around in order to see the destruction they had caused.

Rose heard what sounded like giggling coming from a tree that loomed over the playground, looking up to see if it was just her mind playing tricks on her she was shocked to find several pairs of eyes staring back at her. She took a step back and reached out to try and catch Gwen's attention, these creatures were like nothing she had seen before and she wasn't about to stick around to find out what else they were capable of.

"Run." Rose told her, turning away from the creatures and grabbing her arm.

Gwen looked up in time to see the creatures dispersing from the tree, stumbling back in shock she turned and they both took off in search of the others, not daring to look back to see if they had given chase.

They ran inside and were relieved to see the others at the end of the corridor, making their way over they didn't stop until they reached Jack who looked at them in concern.

"What is it?" He asked them.

"We saw them Jack." Rose told him quietly.

They fell into step with the others as they continued to ask the teacher questions, it appeared that the creatures had been targeting two young girls this time. She explained to them how as all of this was going on there was another girl supposedly standing in the thick of it, though unlike the other two it appeared as though she was being protected from the effects of the sudden weather change. The woman told them her name was Jasmine.

"Who is Jasmine?" Jack asked her.

"Jasmine Pierce, she's one of my pupils." She explained.

"Where's Jasmine now?" Rose asked.

"We're sending all the children home, we have to." She told them.

"Thanks for you time." Jack said and she nodded before walking away.

"The chosen one." Gwen voiced her thought aloud and he nodded.

"Lets go." Jack told his team.

* * *

The suv came to an abrupt stop outside Jasmine's home, screams could be heard coming from the backyard of the property as they quickly got out and rushed round. They pushed their way through the frantic crowd and were met with what looked to be half a dozen or so of the so called fairies. One of the creatures pounced on a man standing in the middle of the garden and knocked him to the ground as they tried to usher the remaining people out.

Another creature advanced on Jack as he tried to look for an opening to help the man, thinking quickly Rose pushed him and they both fell, knocking the 'fairy' off of him too. As quick as it had all began, it stopped. The creatures disappeared back in the direction they had come from, leaving another body in their wake.

Jack got up and took off after the creatures, Rose followed and Gwen wasn't far behind. They ducked through a hole in the fence at the bottom of the garden and followed the path which led them to a wooded area where they found the little girl from before, the chosen one.

"Do you know you're walking in the forest?" Jasmine called out to them as they approached.

"Well you are, it's a very old forest and it's magical, and I want to stay in it." She continued.

"The forest doesn't exist Jasmine, your friends are playing tricks on you, the real forest can never come back." Jack explained, taking a step towards the young girl.

"Oh it can, when they take me to it." She told him, as if it was the most simple thing.

"What about your mother, don't you want to stay with her?" Rose asked her and she shook her head.

The creatures appeared suddenly in the trees above and Rose took a step back. Jack grabbed the girl and pulled her away from the creatures looming above.

"Leave her alone, find another chosen one." Jack ordered them.

"Too late, the child belongs with us." Came a wispy voice from above.

"She belongs here." He argued.

"No, she lives forever." They continued.

"Suppose we make her stay?" Rose asked them.

"Then lots more people will die." Jasmine explained.

"Did they tell you that?" Gwen chimed in.

"They promised, next time they'll kill everyone at my school, like they killed Roy, and that man, and your friend." She told them.

"How do you know these things?" Gwen asked her.

"If they want to they can make great storms, wild seas, turn the world to ice, kill every living thing, now let me go!" She shouted, fighting against the grip Jack had on her.

After seeing the aftermath of what these creatures were capable of, the bodies they left in their wake without a care, Rose didn't for a second doubt the threats Jasmine was warning them of if they decided to make her stay with them. She looked at Jack and met his eye, she could see the pain and fear that she was sure was mirrored on her own face as they both came to the same conclusion on what they had to do.

"She won't be harmed?" Rose called out to the creatures and Gwen instantly turned to her in shock.

"You can't." She started but Jack cut her off.

"Answer the question, she won't be harmed?" Jack asked next, ignoring the look Gwen was giving them both.

"We told you, she lives forever." The creatures told them.

Jack and Rose shared another look, it was by no means an easy decision to make but at the cost of the planet sometimes sacrifices had to be made. He looked to her as though wanting vindication for the choice he was about to make, a choice he had to make. She gave him a nod and he released the child, taking a step back.

"Take her." He told them.

Gwen rushed forward to stop the girl and Jack grabbed her arm, holding her close as she struggled against him.

"You asked me what chance we have against them for the sake of the world, this is our only chance." He told her, his voice full of emotion as he let her go and she stepped away.

Rose came to stand beside Jack as they watched Jasmine wonder further into the wooded area, she turned to them with a smile.

"Thank you." She told them before skipping away with the others and disappearing in a burst of white light.

The others arrived with Jasmine's mum in tow, she arrived in time to see her daughter disappear and ran over to the area where she once was. They could only watch as she screamed frantically for her daughter, she had just watched her husband die and now her daughter was gone too.

She turned on Jack suddenly, attempting to hurt the man who had allowed her daughter to leave but quickly breaking down once more. Jack held the woman as she cried for both her husband and her daughter.

Rose had tears streaming down her own cheeks, it hadn't been an easy decision to make and if there had been an other way she would never have allowed the fairies to take Jasmine. The others didn't understand but they would, the reasons behind their decision would never matter to Jasmine's mum, they had taken her daughter away from her and she now had no one left.

They had managed to get Jasmine's mum back to her house where thankfully some of the party goers were still around so she would not be alone, there was nothing they could say or do to make them truly understand not only what had happened but why it happened so they could only leave the woman to grieve for the two losses she had suffered that day. Since they had left the woods, none of the others had said a word to Jack or Rose. As they headed back out to the suv, he stopped to address them and they all simply walked by.

"What else were we supposed to do?" He questioned which earned him nothing but silence.

Rose sighed as she heard the doors slam behind them, they knew them well enough to know they wouldn't have made such a decision if the consequences weren't so dire. They just had to make them understand.

"Lets go." She told him, grasping his hand for only a moment and giving it a squeeze in a gesture to show him that no matter what happened she would always have his back.


	19. Chapter 19

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi! I hope everyone had a wicked Christmas, here we are with chapter one of Countrycide. I've kind of had an idea of how I wanted this episode to go from the beginning in regards to adding Rose and how I was going to change things to incorporate her. I hope you like where it's heading and if you don't please feel free to let me know, I'm always open for suggestions and new ideas. Would like to have this episode completed by New Years and I will try. I would love to hear what you guys think of what I have so far, anything you like/don't like or anything you'd like to see if future chapters would be appreciated.
> 
> Thanks!

**Chapter 19**

**Countrycide Part 1 **

Having grown up in London, Rose had always loved the countryside. She enjoyed the peace and quiet that couldn't be found in a busy city, and despite her mum never being much of an outdoorsy person, she had humoured Rose on occasion when she was a kid and taken her camping. This trip however didn't bring her the usual joy she got from leaving the city, they were here on official business to investigate a string of disappearances within a short space of time.

Jack parked the suv beside a long stretch of road nearby to where the young woman had gone missing and everybody got out. Ianto was grabbing them all burgers from a food van nearby and Owen was observing their surroundings with distaste whilst the others looked over a map to see how far away they were from the areas in which the victims had last been seen.

"I hate the countryside, it's dirty, it's unhygienic, and what is that smell?" Owen asked with a frown, folding his arms and looking back to the others.

"That would be grass." Rose told him.

"It's disgusting." He replied and she rolled her eyes at his childish demeanour.

"Seventeen disappearances in the last five months, the police are clueless." Jack said looking up from the map.

"Well there's a surprise, no offence PC Cooper." Owen chimed in, holding up his hands in defence as he looked at Gwen with a smirk.

Gwen returned the smirk and then looked back at the map as Jack pointed out the area in which all of the victims had last been seen.

"All within a twenty mile radius." Tosh noted.

"Anything else linking them?" Rose asked and Jack shook his head.

"None of the bodies have ever been found, these people just fell off the radar, no patterns in age, sex or race, one minute they're here and the next they're gone." He explained.

"Could the rift spread out this far?" Gwen asked.

"We don't know enough about it to be certain, it's increasing in activity all the time." He told her with a shrug.

"Oh come on, aliens aren't gonna bother hanging around out here, probably some sort of weird suicide club with people choosing the same spot to end it all, god knows if I had to spend too much time out here I'd wanna top myself." Owen exclaimed, throwing his arms out and gesturing to their surroundings to make a point.

"Laugh a minute you are." Rose told him sarcastically.

Ianto wondered back over from the van with several burgers in hand, he handed one out to everyone apart from Tosh who claimed she wasn't hungry.

"You sure you don't want anything Tosh?" He asked before taking a bite out of his own burger.

"Really sure, a friend of mine caught hepatitis off a burger from one of these places" Tosh explained with a shrug.

Rose looked down at her burger with a frown, she contemplated taking a bite despite what Tosh had told them but decided against it just in case. She sighed and set it aside on the bonnet, next to Jack's discarded burger.

"Lets start with the most recent victim, Ellie Johnson, we last have record of her making a phone call, it dropped out of signal mid call somewhere around here." Jack said, pointing to an area on the map.

"Looks a good a place as any to set up camp." He then added with a shrug.

"Sorry, did you say camp?" Owen called out.

"Lets go." Jack told them, glancing at Owen with a smile before folding up the map and making his way around the vehicle to the drivers side.

Rose grabbed hers and Jack's discarded food and threw it in the trash bin next to the food van before piling into the suv with the others.

* * *

They weren't far from the area and once they arrived quick work was made with assembling the tents so they would have a base before it got dark.

"What's wrong with a hotel?" Owen griped as he and Jack carried another bag of tent equipment from the suv.

"People are going missing around here, do you really wanna stay in a place run by strangers?" Jack asked him.

"Because sleeping outside is gonna be a lot safer." He replied sarcastically.

"No other race in the universe goes camping, celebrate your own uniqueness." Jack told him, releasing his grip on his side of the bag before heading back over to the suv to grab more supplies.

Everyone else had assisted in getting their tents up and were setting up the equipment they would need for their stay whilst Owen still struggled with his own tent.

"Pieces are missing!" He called out as he spread out the content of the bag.

"Nope, I checked." Ianto shot back.

Owen continued to make little progress with his tent, spending more time complaining than actually assembling so Gwen decided to try and lighten the mood.

"It's just a bit of fun, who was the last person you snogged?" She asked him.

"You even sound like an eight year old, who the hell says snog?" He replied with an eye roll.

"Mine was Rhys." She continued with a smile.

"There's a surprise." Rose chimed in with a breath of a laugh.

"Your go Tosh." Gwen told her friend.

"It's easy for you." Tosh replied, slightly embarrassed.

"Come on, spill the beans." Gwen pressed.

"Owen." She said after a moment.

Rose looked at Tosh in surprise before glancing over at Owen who seemed equally as shocked by her answer.

"In your dreams Tosh." Owen told her, sitting down on a stack of empty crates.

"Three am, Christmas Eve in front of the Millennium Centre, waiting for a cab, I had mistletoe." She explained with a small smile.

"You haven't had a snog since Christmas?" He asked with a frown and she shook her head.

"Well, lucky me." He added.

"Who was yours?" Tosh asked him.

Owen smirked at the question, glancing over at Rose it took her a moment to catch his gaze and her face fell as she realised what he was about to reveal to the others.

"Rose." He told them.

"When was this?" Tosh asked in surprise, a hint of jealousy unmissable in her tone.

"It's complicated." Rose said quietly, she knew her actions would come back to haunt her eventually and she wanted nothing more than for the ground to swallow her so she didn't have to deal with it right now.

"So, was it just a kiss or?" Tosh continued and Rose sighed, glancing back at Owen she met his shit eating grin with a glare.

"Just leave it Tosh." She told her, looking at her colleague with a tight smile.

"Jack?" Owen called out as he came to sit beside them.

"Are we including non human life forms?" He asked with a smirk.

"You're a sick man Harkness, that's disgusting." Owen told him with a frown.

"I never know when he's joking." Gwen thought allowed and Jack only chuckled in response.

"My turn is it?" Ianto called out after a moment.

"It was Lisa." He continued.

An awkward silence took over for a few moments, no one could meet Ianto's eye and they didn't know what they could say in order to relieve the sudden tension.

"Ianto I'm sorry." Gwen said, breaking the silence and looking over at him apologetically.

"Sorry you mentioned it or sorry she's dead?" He asked her, his question only making things more tense within the group.

Rose couldn't imagine how he must be feeling but she did know how the others had all felt after being put through the ordeal involving his girlfriend because of him. He had been lucky to have been kept around after what he had done and she refused to continue to feel guilty for the actions they had been forced to take.

"We should get some firewood." Rose announced.

"I'll give you a hand." Jack told her and she nodded.

The pair stood and headed off into the woods nearby, Rose knew something was coming so she remained silent as they wondered through the wooded area and waited.

"So, you and Owen.." Jack said casually.

There it was.

Rose sighed, she knew that she didn't really owe anyone an explanation as to what she and Owen did or didn't do and she made a mental note to rip the arrogant prick a new one when they got back for making people assume there was anything going on in the first place. Despite that however, she didn't want Jack of all people thinking she had a thing going with anyone, whether that be Owen or anybody else.

"There's no me and Owen." She told him bluntly.

"Sure about that?" He asked her, an eyebrow raised curiously.

Jack had been surprised when Owen had revealed he and Rose had shared a kiss, but he was even more surprised by how much it bothered him. He and Rose were close and had even shared a few kisses of their own back in the day but they had never been anything official. He was being selfish, he of all people had no right to question Rose's choices considering his reputation.

"Why? Are you jealous?" Rose shot back, looking at him with an amused smile. She had a feeling he was only trying to get a rise out of her with his questioning, and if that was the case then she'd give back as good as he gave.

"Should I be?" He asked, a smirk crossing his lips as he awaited her answer.

She considered her response for a few moments, the kiss she shared with Owen had happened because he thought they were about to die and up until that day they hadn't even spoken about it nor felt the need to do it again. Although it'd been a long time since she and Jack had been anything other than friends she couldn't deny that the thought had crossed her mind on more than one occasion since she had returned and she often found herself wondering if he still harboured any of the feelings he had for her back then too.

"He's not you." She told him.

Neither was sure who made the first move but they weren't about to complain, Jack had one hand in Rose's hair and the other around her waist whilst both of hers were gripping the lapels on his coat as they shared a kiss that they both felt was way overdue. Rose smirked against his lips as her back hit a nearby tree, her hands slipped beneath his coat and gripped his waist attempting to pull him even closer if it were possible.

The snapping of a branch nearby caused them to part, Rose looked past Jack in the direction it had come from and saw a hooded figure watching them a short distance away.

"Someone's watching us, through the trees, fifty yards north." She whispered, panic in her tone as she glanced over again to find the figure still looking over at them.

"You got your gun?" He asked in a whispered tone and she nodded.

"You go to the left, I'll go right." He told her.

"Three, two, one."

He counted them down and they quickly parted, heading off in separate directions with their guns drawn. Rose scanned the area that she had originally seen the figure but could no longer see them and there was no way of knowing which direction they had taken. She whipped around at the sound of someone approaching from behind and was met with Jack, they both lowered their guns as they realised whoever had been lurking had since left.

"Damnit." Jack muttered as he holstered his pistol.

Rose was about to put her own gun away when she caught sight of something behind Jack, there was a mound being covered by some sort of sheet a short distance away. She instinctively raised her gun and Jack did the same once he saw the look on her face, turning to see what it was she was looking at he frowned and slowly made his way over.

She kept her gun drawn as Jack kneeled down beside the sheet covered mound, standing behind him she watched as he grabbed a nearby stick and carefully moved the sheet to reveal what was underneath.

They both stumbled back in shock as they were met with a body completely stripped of flesh, Rose covered her mouth with her hand and turned away from the body whilst Jack used his earpiece to get in touch with the others.

* * *

"It's not Ellie Johnson that's for sure." Owen told them, looking up from where he was crouched next to the remains.

"This is a male in his late forties, early fifties, wasn't killed here either, no blood spatter or signs of a struggle, must have been brought here after he died" He continued.

"Why do that? It's not like they tried to bury him." Rose said with a sigh, she had seen a lot of things in her time but the image of the body would be burned into her memory for a long time.

"Maybe you disturbed them and they ran away?" Tosh suggested and Rose wasn't sure if she was imagining the slight edge in her tone as she spoke.

"Maybe it was a warning, whoever was responsible marking their territory." Ianto chimed in next whilst cordoning off the area with police tape.

"Do we have a cause of death?" Jack asked, kneeling down beside the body and opposite Owen who was examining what was left of it.

"Impossible to say, bodies been stripped of the flesh and organs so all we have left in the carcass." Owen explained.

"Could the weevils make it out this far?" Tosh wondered allowed and Jack shook his head.

"Weevils don't finish off their victims like this." He told her.

They were all silent for a moment, trying to understand what creature could have done this much damage to a person. The silence was broken by the sound of an engine being started up, a sound they all recognised.

"Is that ours?" Gwen asked suddenly.

"Yep." Jack told her, standing quickly and taking off back to where they had left the suv.

The others followed after Jack and made it back to their camping area in time to find someone driving their suv through their makeshift camp, destroying their tents and equipment before taking off at speed.

"What genius left the keys inside?" Rose asked, glancing at each of the others in turn and being hardly surprised when Owen looked back at her sheepishly.

"Seriously Owen!" She shouted over to him as she and the others began assessing the damage caused to their tents.

"Look I'm sorry." He told her and she rolled her eyes.

"Basic security protocols Owen." Tosh chimed in as she began gathering the pieces left behind.

"Get off your high horse Tosh, I was carrying that stupid gear." He shot back.

"The entire time?" Rose added.

"And then I was trying to put that stupid tent up, and then, yeah ok I sort of forgot I left the keys in there." He admitted.

"I'm sorry, I'm human, I ballsed up." He continued, holding his hands up in defence.

"Looks like that body wasn't a warning, more of a decoy." Jack told them.

"But that would mean we've been watched since we arrived." Rose concluded, a hint of panic in her tone.

"Tosh, can you get a tracking signal?" Jack asked but Ianto held up a device in response which stopped Tosh in her tracks.

"Already done, I took the liberty, it's currently three point four miles west from here." Ianto told his boss.

"Gunning at ninety no doubt, you steal a piece of equipment like that, you drive straight on until morning." Owen guessed, making his way over to them as he spoke.

"Actually no, it's been stationary for the past four minutes, I would go as far as to say it was parked." Ianto explained.

Rose picked up a map that had been luckily left behind and tried to pinpoint the location the suv had been taken.

"There's a small village in that area, other than that, nothing for thirty miles." She explained, running a hand through her hair as the wind began to pick up.

"Call me suspicious, but this has all the hallmarks of a trap." Tosh chimed in and Jack nodded.

"I was just thinking the same thing, anyone fancy a walk?" He asked them with a smile.

He began walking west and after a moment of hesitation the others followed after him.


	20. Chapter 20

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello, Happy New Year! I hope everyone had a great New Years Eve, I was unfortunately working which is why this update is so late. They'll be one more part after this and then that'll be Countrycide wrapped up, I will have that up tomorrow. This chapter is pretty long as there's a lot I needed to cover, but I hope you enjoy my take on the episode. As always let me know what you think.
> 
> Thanks.

**Chapter 20**

**Countrycide Part 2**

It didn't take them long to reach the outskirts of the village, it appeared to be a pretty small place and looked fairly run down even from a distance.

"Has the suv moved?" Jack asked Ianto as they came to a momentary stop.

Ianto shook his head, glancing at the tracker before checking his watch.

"Not for an hour now." He told him.

The group continued on their way and arrived at the village a short while later, it didn't look any better up close than it had from a distance. If it wasn't for the tap with running water nearby Rose wouldn't have been surprised if the place had been abandoned.

"Tosh, Ianto, follow the signal and find the suv." Jack instructed, stopping and turning to face his team.

"Rose, Gwen, Owen, with me." He continued.

"Lets see if there's any room at the Inn." He said, turning and heading towards the pub.

"Be careful." Rose told Ianto and Tosh with a small smile before following after Jack.

The group headed inside and were surprised to find the place deserted despite the front door being unlocked. Rose made her way behind the bar and Owen leaned against the counter, looking across at her with a smirk.

"Pint of best please love, and er, yeah get one for yourself." He told her and she rolled her eyes.

"Where is everybody?" Gwen asked, opening the till and surprised to find it full of money despite the place being seemingly empty.

They followed Jack through a door that led to the accommodation area and split up, each heading off to search a different room.

Rose had her gun drawn as she walked into a kitchen area, the place was an absolute mess and there was a strange smell lingering in the air. The sound of a fly being caught in an electric trap caused her to turn, shining her torch ahead something caught her eye. Lowering her torch to the ground her face paled as she came across another mutilated body, she felt her stomach turn and rushed out of the room. Leaning against a wall in the hallway she held a hand to her stomach as she retched, thankful she had decided against having that burger earlier on.

"You ok?" Jack asked as he rushed up beside her.

She closed her eyes and shook her head, gesturing towards the room she had just left with a grimace.

"In there." She told him.

"Burger coming back to haunt you?" Owen asked with a smirk as he passed her and followed Jack into the kitchen. His smirk gave way to a look similar to Rose's as he came across the body.

"Oh my god." He muttered in shock.

Jack left the room, passing Gwen on route and gesturing for her to follow him as he quickly made his way out of the pub, closely followed by Owen and Rose.

"Jack what the hell is going on here?" Rose asked him, her gun raised as she scanned the area in fear of what they might find next.

"There's four houses we need to check too, Gwen, Owen you two take the ones that way and we'll head this way." Jack gave his orders and they all nodded.

"Let's take a look in there." He told Rose, gesturing to the house closest to them.

They made their way inside with their guns drawn, Rose wondered through the living room but stopped when she felt a puddle beneath her foot. She glanced down to find a small pool of blood on the floor, looking ahead she didn't need to go any further to know what they were about to find.

"What is it?" Jack asked her, coming to stand beside her with his gun trained ahead.

"There's another body in there." She told him simply.

"What did this Jack, whatever it is cannot be human, how far is this going to spread?" She continued, her voice starting to sound frantic.

"You gotta stay focussed." He told her, heading back towards the front door.

"Don't you ever get scared Jack?" She asked, turning to look at her friend.

"We need to check the other house." He said, trying to keep his voice even so she wouldn't sense the fear he also felt.

Making their way back outside, they headed to the next house. Jack stood to the side of the front door whilst Rose stepped forward and attempted to open it.

"Locked?" Jack asked after she pulled on the door to no avail.

"Locked." She confirmed with a nod, pulling the door open as much as she could and peering through the gap in an attempt to see if anyone was inside.

The door appeared to only be locked via a chain so she grasped the door handle tight before pulling it with more force. The door swung open and she stepped forward to head inside, her eyes grew wide as she was met with the barrel of a shotgun and had no time to react before the trigger was pulled. The force of the blast threw Rose back to the ground, her hand instantly went to her abdomen as pain shot through her.

"Rose!" Jack called out but she was in too much shock and pain to respond.

She gasped as she tried to catch her breath, the pain radiating from her stomach becoming near unbearable. She attempted to sit up but cried out and fell back as the pain only got worse. After a few moments it felt as though the pain was dissipating, she could no longer hear Jack's voice and she let her eyes shut as she felt a wave numbness take over.

Muffled voices reached her ears and before she knew it the pain was back, she clutched at her side and cried out again as the gunshots made her feel as though her stomach was on fire.

"What happened?" Gwen shouted in a panic as Owen came to kneel beside Rose and grabbed her wrist to check her pulse.

"Kid hit her with a shotgun." Jack told them as he dropped to the other side of Rose, slipping his arms underneath her knees and behind her shoulders her head fell against his shoulder as he stood.

"I gotcha Rosie, we need to get her inside." He said and Owen nodded.

He opened the door and led the way, moving things out of the way to make room for Jack to come through with Rose. They headed into what appeared to be a dining room and Owen swept clear a table so Jack could set Rose down.

"I'm gonna check upstairs." Jack told them after he had set Rose down, he gestured for Gwen to follow him and the pair headed off.

Owen grabbed a nearby pillow and set it under Rose's head before opening his case to retrieve necessary equipment.

"Bet you never thought you'd be glad to see me." He told her before reaching forward to try and check the extent of her gunshot wound.

She instantly recoiled at the contact, pressing a hand to her wound she turned away from him.

"No, Owen please." She begged him, trying to push his hands away from her before he grabbed her wrists and held her still.

"Listen to me, I'm gonna take a look at your wound now ok? Just stay calm." He told her, letting go of her wrists and trying once more to peel back the hem of her top so he could see her wound.

She winced as he moved her top, lifting her head to get a look at the damage her eyes grew wide as she saw the numerous tiny holes where the bullets had penetrated her skin.

"It could have been a lot worse, the bullets are lodged near the surface so you've been bloody lucky." He tried to reassure her, grabbing a gauze from his medical kit he covered her wound.

"Apply pressure." He told her and she complied, squeezing her eyes shut and biting down on her bottom lip as she tried to stop herself from crying out in pain.

"Another inch to the left and one of your vital organs might have been.." He continued, trailing off when he glanced up at Rose to find her staring back at him in panic.

He filled a syringe with pain relief and moved her hand so he could remove the gauze, she moved her now spare hand to his shoulder and grasped the material of his jacket, clenching her hand as he injected her with the painkiller. The pain in her stomach began to lessen almost instantly and became more uncomfortable than anything else as he began extracting the pellets.

"Do you miss being a doctor?" Rose asked him after a few quiet moments, wincing as he removed the tiny bullets.

"Excuse me I still am a doctor, I just don't deal with patients anymore, which is ideal really because that was the bit I always hated." He told her with a smile, one that she returned.

After removing the last pellet he held up the tweezers for her to see.

"Come on, I'm good." He said and if she wasn't in so much pain she might have laughed.

"Not bad." She told him.

He recovered her wound with the gauze and secured it in place as Jack and Gwen emerged from upstairs.

"What's taking Tosh and Ianto so long?" Jack wondered allowed, loading the shotgun he had found upstairs.

"The suv might be locked up or under guard." Owen suggested with a shrug.

"Or they could be dead." The kid chimed in and Jack turned on him with a glare.

"Sit down." He ordered.

"Tell us what happened here." He asked the kid.

"It's not human, look my mum won't know what's happened she was only expecting me back for the weekend." The kid continued and Jack sighed.

"Look, we'll get you home ok?" He promised.

"What are you gonna do? You can't fight them, they're too strong, the only thing we can do is barricade the door." He explained to Jack.

"We'll make base at the pub." Jack told them.

"What about Tosh and Ianto?" Gwen asked him.

"We need to figure out what we're dealing with first." He explained and Owen looked at him in surprise.

"What if it's too late?" He asked, his voice rising with fear as he considered what may have happened to their friends.

"They're not children, they know what to do." Jack told him, walking towards Rose.

"Let's go." He said and Owen sighed, stepping back from the table he packed his medical equipment away.

Standing beside Rose, she put her arm around his neck and he eased her up into a sitting position. She took a deep breath as he helped her get down from the table and he looked at her in concern as she tried to gain her balance.

"You good?" He asked her and she nodded, although when she attempted to take a step by herself she was instantly hit with a wave of dizziness.

Jack caught her before she could fall, wrapping an arm around her waist she braced herself with a hand on his chest as she waited for the moment to pass.

"I'm sorry about your friends." The kid said and they all stared back at him blankly.

"Move." Owen told him, waiting until he was moving towards the front door before following him.

The others followed, with Jack hanging back with Rose to make sure she was ok.

* * *

They weren't far from the pub and once they were all inside they checked the rooms to ensure they were alone before barricading the doors with tables and chairs. Rose had been given strict instructions to rest and the kid who's name they found out to be Kieran was lying down on a pew with his shotgun. She decided to make a list of all the things they knew about these creatures thus far to try and narrow down the possibilities of what they could be, grabbing a piece of chalk she began making notes on the board beside the dartboard.

"Have we ever heard of a species that strips its victims of flesh and organs?" She asked the others.

"What are you doing? You need to rest." Owen asked her with a frown.

"Compiling what we've got, seeing if it helps." She told him and he sighed, giving her a small nod he went back to helping the others.

"We have to assume the others that disappeared have been killed too." Jack chimed in.

"You think there's been seventeen deaths?" Gwen asked and he nodded.

"At least." He added and Rose made a note of it on the board.

"So this means the rift is spreading and its dumping aliens and psychos anywhere it fancies." Owen summarised, grabbing his gun and making sure it was loaded and ready just in case.

"Looks that way." Jack confirmed.

"Brilliant, this conversation had cheered me up to no end." Owen replied sarcastically.

Rose rolled her eyes and was about to respond to his sarcasm when there was a sudden knocking on one of the windows. Gwen's gasp caught the attention of Jack and Owen and Rose reached for her gun as she looked towards the window the noise had come from.

"Did you hear that?" Gwen asked the others and Rose nodded.

"Somebody outside?" Jack asked.

Before either had a chance to respond the sound of a glass breaking outside a window on the other side of the room caught their attention, followed by a shadowed figure passing by.

"He said they'd come back for him." Gwen told them, her gun raised towards the window the most recent noise had come from.

"Lets not jump to conclusions." Jack said calmly, peering through the curtains to see if he could find out who was outside.

"We don't know who they are or what their intentions are." He continued, walking back over to join the group just as the power cut out.

"I'm guessing not good." Rose chimed in.

The front door they had barricaded shut began to rattle as whoever was outside tried to get in, Kieran who had fallen asleep after they had arrived at the pub awoke at the commotion and stood instantly with his shotgun pointed at the door.

"They've come back for me, I told you they would." He told them in a panic.

"Kieran just come back here." Gwen told him, trying to keep the fear out of her own voice as to not scare him further.

The rattling stopped abruptly and there was a few moments of eery silence before the sound of a door handle being turned reached their ears. Jack followed the sound and realised too late that whoever these things were, they had gotten inside.

"Ok, so we forgot to check the cellar." He told the others grimly as the padlock on the door snapped almost instantly as whatever was on the other side began trying to force its way in.

He rushed to the door and struggled to keep whatever it was from getting in as the front door began once more to shake as more of them arrived.

"You can't let them in!" Kieran yelled.

"We've got this under control." Owen tried to reassure him to no avail.

"You don't understand, you don't know what they're like." Kieran told him, loading his shotgun as he took a step closer to the door.

"Get back!" Rose ordered as the barricade finally gave way.

Jack stepped away from the cellar door, firing numerous shots into the darkness until he heard his target fall. The pub was suddenly filled with the sound of breaking glass and gunshots as their attackers fired several of their own shots through the now open door. They all ducked for cover and Jack pulled Rose down with him, shielding her from the barrage of bullets flying above their heads.

Kierans screams filled the air along with the sound of gunshots and ignoring the continued gunfire Jack stood and fired his pistol through the door as the kid was being dragged away. Ignoring the pain that was returning to her stomach, Rose stood once the gunfire had ceased and rushed towards the door to go after Kieran only to be stopped by Jack as he held her back.

"It's pitch black out there, do you wanna get yourself killed?" He asked her, refusing to move as she tried to push past him.

"Get out of my way Jack!" She told him, her voice coming across harsher than she intended.

"Whatever is down in the cellar took three bullets, I heard it fall, once we know what it is then we'll know how to deal with it." He tried to explain and she just shook her head.

"You do that, I'll go after Kieran and the others." She said adamantly, taking a deep breath as she fought off another wave of dizziness, something Jack did not miss.

"You are wounded!" He reminded her, moving his hands to her shoulders to steady her in case she lost her balance.

"Do you think that's going to stop me?" She asked.

Meeting his gaze she could see the fear in his eyes, fear for what their friends might be going through or had already gone through as well as fear for what could happen to her if he let her go. He sighed and looked to Owen, he knew they'd be no way of stopping her but he'd be damned if he was going to let her go alone.

"Go with her." Jack told him and he nodded.

Jack looked back to Rose and if it wasn't for their current audience he'd have kissed her, they still had no idea what they were dealing with and he wanted to give her an extra reason to be careful. The Doctor had always called her jeopardy friendly and the last thing he needed was her trying to play the hero and getting herself hurt more than she already was.

"Be careful." He said and she nodded, her gaze flickered down to his lips for just a moment and he thought maybe she had the same idea he had but also decided against it. They would have time for that later, when they found the others and stopped whoever it was that had committed these murders.

He let her go and after sparing him one last glance she set off, Owen right behind her. They had no map or tracking device, only their guns for protection and a flashlight to find their way.


	21. Chapter 21

**Chapter 21**

**Countrycide Part 3**

They left the pub and headed off in the direction Tosh and Ianto had taken earlier, from what they could see in with their limited light there didn't appear to be any signs of a struggle which meant if they had been taken then it must have been a surprise attack. The walk was starting to take its toll on Rose, they had wondered off track and she had to stop when the pain became too much for her. Leaning against a nearby tree, she pressed a hand against her wound and took a deep breath as she tried her best to push the pain to the back of her mind.

"You alright?" Owen asked, coming to stand beside her as she tried to get her bearings.

Rose nodded, pushing away from the tree she winced but managed to keep herself steady.

"Let me help you." He offered.

She looked at him for a moment before sighing, she didn't want to slow them down but she also didn't want anyone thinking she wasn't capable. He held out his hand to her and she stepped closer, putting a hand on his shoulder she leaned against him and he put his arm around her waist.

The pair set off once more, Rose gripped Owen's jacket and he held her steady as they made their way over the uneven ground. There was a road ahead and as they headed up the grassy bank Rose stumbled and cried out.

"You sure you're alright?" He asked, slowing down as they finally reached a track of road.

"I'm fine." She reassured him and was met with a disbelieving look.

"I'm _fine._" She repeated, looking up as she heard sirens approaching.

"Brilliant, that's all we need," He said with a sigh as a police cruiser stopped a short distance away.

"Let me do the talking, I'll get rid of him." Rose told him as a man got out of the vehicle and walked over to them.

"Who are you please?" The officer asked them.

"Special ops, Torchwood, you heard of Torchwood?" She asked him and he stared back at her with a blank expression.

"What's that a band is it?" He replied, frowning as Rose leaned heavily against Owen's shoulder.

"What's wrong with her?" He asked looking to Owen.

"You wouldn't understand." Owen told him simply.

Rose noticed a light in the distance and gave the copper a questioning glance.

"What's that light over there?" She asked him.

"It's an official village hall, village meeting tonight that's why I'm here." He explained.

"Lets go." She told Owen before he had a chance to finish speaking and they quickly set off in the direction of the hall.

They followed the road until they could see the village hall in the distance, the officer was following behind them but said nothing else to them. They weren't far away when they suddenly heard a scream coming from the woods beside the road, it sounded familiar but they couldn't be certain so they diverted from the path and quickly followed the sound. Rose and Owen both had their guns drawn as they followed the sound of a struggle, they were shocked when they realised the scream had come from Tosh.

"Get off her or I will shoot you!" Owen warned her attacker, pointing his gun at his head.

He was met with a laugh and after giving him another moment to obey, he kicked the guy off of Tosh and trained the gun on him once more. Rose dropped to the ground beside her friend, pulling her close with a relieved sigh.

"It's ok, you're ok, we saw the torchlight." Rose explained, pulling back and checking to make sure she was alright.

"They murdered all the villagers, they're cannibalising the bodies." Tosh told them with a sob, Rose looked over at the attacker in shock before pulling Tosh close once more.

"You're safe now, it's ok." Rose reassured her.

"You can arrest him now." She told the officer, looking up at him as he stood watching the scene unfold.

"I said you can arrest him." She repeated when he didn't move.

"Are you gonna arrest me Hugh?" The man asked the police officer with a laugh and he finally stepped forward with a smirk.

"That'd be a laugh wouldn't it, my own uncle." The officer said, pulling out his gun and pointing it at Owen.

Rose looked up in surprise, standing quickly she pulled out her own gun and pointed it at the police officer.

"Put the gun down, don't you hurt him." She told him, her voice full of fear.

"Shoot the bastard, split his skull." The man told his nephew with a grin.

"Put the fucking gun down!" Rose shouted at him, tears filling her eyes as she tried to regain control of the situation.

"Pull the trigger Hugh!" The cannibal dared his nephew.

"I will shoot you, put the gun down!" Rose continued frantically.

Her hand was starting to shake and she glanced over at Owen, she couldn't bare to lose anyone else, not after Susie, not after everyone else she had lost by coming back. He shook his head at her and she frowned, she stared at him for a few moments and realised there was nothing else they could do. Loosening the grip she had on her gun, she allowed the officer to take it from her before pointing it back at her.

The cannibal got up and after taking Owen's gun too had all three of them at gunpoint.

"Lets go." He told his nephew who nodded.

He pulled Tosh up off the ground by her handcuffs whilst pointing his gun at Owen and the officer grabbed Rose by her hair. She clutched at her side as she was half dragged along with the others towards the village hall.

* * *

They were forced into a building that looked more like a slaughter house than a village hall, the trio were met with a group of people who didn't seem surprised by their entrance.

"Who are these people?" Tosh asked looking around at the group.

"This is our village." A woman told her with a laugh.

"The villagers are dead." Rose spat back and was met with more laughter.

"They're all involved, they've all been doing it." Tosh said in realisation.

"This is our harvest." The man from before told them simply and Rose thought she might actually be sick.

"Only in the bloody countryside." Owen said looking at him in disgust.

"You sick fuckers." He continued and they advanced on them, the officer grabbed Owen and the other man grabbed Rose and Tosh before pushing them through a sheet curtain and into another room.

Rose cried out as she stumbled further into the room, she was pushed forward and landed on the ground next to Kieran.

"You ok?" She asked him, pulling him up as one of the cannibals came to stand beside them.

"Where's Ianto?" Tosh demanded and Rose watched in horror as he grabbed a hooded figure and pulled him up so he was in view of the others.

He removed the sack covering Ianto's face and slapped his face to wake him up, the welshman's eyes shot open and he looked at them in fear of what was to come.

"It's time to be bled." He told them, grabbing a dirty butchers knife off the table in front of him and holding it to Ianto's throat.

"Takes a long time, but definitely makes the meat taste better." He continued, pausing when the room suddenly began to shake.

He let Ianto go and moved forward towards the door to identify the source whilst Rose rushed forward and took his place, wrapping her arm around him she held him close.

"You're alright, I've got you." She whispered in his ear, resting her head against his shoulder as she tried to keep her emotions in check.

The ground continued to shake as a few of the villagers stepped forward, those with gun had them aimed at the door as the noise of what sounded like an engine got closer. Before any of them had time to react, an old farming vehicle came crashing through, knocking some of them down. Gwen and Jack stepped out and made quick work of disarming all of the villagers, they fired non fatal shots and thought they had got them all when the police officer attempted to reach for his gun.

"Oh really?" Jack questioned, pulling out his pistol and firing a shot at his hand before he had a chance.

He then turned on the man he believed to be the leader of this sick cult, pulling him up by his collar he pressed his pistol against his throat and would have happily pulled the trigger if Gwen hadn't called out to stop him.

"These people don't deserve warnings." He told her, not looking away from the man as he pressed his gun harder against his neck.

"Let me question him, I have to understand, I need to know why." She pleaded with her boss.

"They're injured, they need to go to the hospital." Tosh chimed in and Gwen looked over at them.

"Owen, you control the bleeding and then phone the police." She told them before looking back at Jack.

"Just give us an hour with him Jack, then he's all yours." Rose asked, coming to stand beside him.

He paused for a moment before sighing and letting the man go. Rose gripped his shoulder and leaned against him, she glanced over at Gwen and the two women shared a mutual look of understanding.

* * *

The real police had been called and Owen patched up the villagers as best he could before they arrived with the paramedics. Jack, Rose and Gwen brought the leader back to the pub so they could talk to him before they handed him over to the police. The two women sat across from him whilst Jack sat a short distance away, letting them take charge but on hand in case he needed to step him.

"The whole village was involved." Gwen surmised and she was met with a blank state.

"Every generation, its our tradition, once a decade we target those travelling through, those most likely to disappear." He explained, his voice void of all emotion.

"And you butcher them." Rose chimed in bluntly.

"What sort of people do you have to be to wake up in the morning and decide this is what you wanna do?" She asked, disgusted but also genuinely curious as to how a human being could do this to another person.

He didn't respond, only stared at her and Gwen leaned forward in her seat.

"Why do you do it?" Gwen asked.

"Why do you care?" He wondered.

"We have seen things you wouldn't believe, and this is the only thing we can't understand." Rose told him simply.

He looked over at Jack for a moment, a wide grin on his face before he looked back at Rose and Gwen.

"That's enough." Jack chimed in, standing up and making his way over to escort him out to the police.

"I'll tell you something though." He said suddenly and Jack paused for a moment.

"But you have to let me whisper." He added, a single tear running down his cheek.

Rose glanced up at Jack and then back at him before nodding, he leaned forward in his seat and Jack held his collar so he couldn't get any closer to her or Gwen.

"Because it made me happy." He said quietly.

Jack pulled him away and dragged him out of his chair, he pushed him towards the door and out to the waiting officers, leaving both Gwen and Rose behind to try and process what they had just been told.

They sat in silence for a short while before slowly making their way outside to join the others. Gwen decided to take a walk to clear her head and Rose made a b-line for Jack who was stood beside Owen.

"I'm just gonna.." Owen started, his words trailing off as he gestured a hand in the direction Gwen had taken before heading off that way too.

Rose came to stand in front of Jack, she was mentally and physically exhausted and her stomach hurt like a bitch. She looked up at her friend and he seemed to be in a similar state minus the gun shot wound, he pulled her into his arms and she closed her eyes for a moment, releasing a sigh of relief that their ordeal was finally over. She had one hand pressed against her side and the other around Jack's waist, holding him just as tight as he was her. The intense moment they had shared the day before felt like a distant memory after everything they had been through since.

"Can we go home?" She asked him, her voice slightly muffled by his coat.

Jack nodded, pressing a kiss to the top of her head before glancing around to see where the rest of his team were.

* * *

After getting everything squared up with the police, they left them to deal with the cannibals and were ready to head back to Cardiff. Rose refused to go to the hospital but she allowed to paramedics to redress her wound and they gave her something for the pain before letting her go. They all crammed into the suv and set off for home, ready to put the events of the last twenty four hours behind them.

It felt like hours before they were finally back in familiar territory, Jack dropped off each member of the team at home on his way back to the hub with Rose, telling them all to take a few days to recover from the ordeal and he would give them a call if something came up that required their help. Once Jack and Rose arrived back at the hub they were both dead on their feet, they headed to their rooms and were too tired to do little else other than crawl into bed and sleep for an eternity.

* * *

"I thought id seen everything, well enough of everything so that it no longer bothered me. I saw so much when I travelled with him and for a while I actually thought I would be doing that forever, me and him, for my forever anyway. And then I lost him, he was the only one who understood. Mum, and Mickey and even Pete tried but they just didn't get it. I spent years trying to come back, I was stupid to think he wouldn't have moved on, it was selfish of me to think he wouldn't. I spent all that time thinking I had something to come back to that I didn't even care to consider what I was leaving behind."

She paused her monologue briefly, resting her head against the doorframe she let out a sigh before continuing.

"I regretted it at first, coming back. I knew it was a one way trip, and there was no way of getting back if I ended up in the wrong place or if I did get back and he'd moved on, it was a chance I had to take. I thought he was all I had and when I did make it back and he had moved on, I thought I was all alone."

She paused again and turned, facing the man who was patiently listening to her speech. He had his hands in his pockets and was leaning against his desk, watching her with an expression she couldn't read. She chose her words carefully, she knew what she wanted and could only hope the feeling was mutual. Moving away from the door, she closed some of the distance between them and he did the same.

"But I was wrong." She finished, looking up at him with a sad smile.

He pulled his hands from his pockets and reached forward, cupping her cheek with his hand he gave her a smile.

"You never have to feel like that again." He told her.

Rose's smile grew and she closed the remaining distance between herself and Jack, pressing her lips against his it took him the briefest of moments before he responded. She slipped a hand through his hair whilst the other gripped his waist, whilst his went around her waist to pull her closer, he was careful to avoid putting pressure around her still fresh wound. The kiss intensified and they both knew this was different from any they had shared before, Rose slipped his braces off his shoulders with one hand whilst tugging his shirt out from his trousers with her other, her actions were making it clear to Jack where she was hoping this would be heading, and he wasn't about to protest.

"You sure about this?" He mumbled against her lips.

She hummed in agreement, smirking as she began unbuttoning his shirt. He moved a hand around her hip and gave her bum a quick squeeze which earned him a giggle from Rose before he slipped his hand under her shirt and let his fingers caress her soft skin. She had his shirt nearly completely unbuttoned when she suddenly stopped, she pulled away and smiled when he looked at her with a frown.

"I just think we should take this somewhere more private." She told him, giving him another quick kiss but pulling back before he had time to deepen it.

They were alone in the hub, no one was due in for work for another couple of days but Rose still didn't want to take the risk that someone might turn up unexpectedly and interrupt them.

"Fine." He said, sighing dramatically before grinning at her and reaching for her hand.

"Your place or mine?" He asked her, wriggling his eyebrows seductively as he led her down the corridor towards their rooms.

She rolled her eyes but couldn't hide her smile, things would change between them after tonight but neither of them could deny that they looked forward to what was to come. Because whatever happened, they would deal with it together.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that is Countrycide wrapped up. I hope you liked the direction I took in regards to Jack and Rose, as always feel to let me know your thoughts and if you have any ideas for further episodes i'm always open to suggestions. Enjoy!


	22. Chapter 22

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! first of all, I suck. I had planned to get this started/finished/up last week and here we are. I don't know why I struggled so hard with this episode I just couldn't seem to find my stride, but here we are none the less. I have the next part already partly finished and hope to have it all up by the end of this week. I'm visiting family over the next few days but hoping I can find some time to get it done. As always, I hope you enjoy. We've sort of broken the barrier in regards to Jack and Rose now so expect to see more of them in more of a coupley sort of thing from here on.
> 
> Enjoy, thanks!

**Chapter 22**

**Greeks Bearing Gifts Part 1**

It had been a pretty uneventful few days, there had been little rift activity and aside from the odd rogue weevil they'd had little reason to leave the hub. Not that Jack or Rose had any complaints, after the events in the Brecon Beacons a little downtime was welcomed. The feelings they had been dancing around for sometime had finally come to fruition upon their return from the countryside. The lack of activity paired with the others recovering at home had given them time to explore this new level of their relationship, something they would have to learn to tone down once the others returned to work the next day. Until then however..

Rose smiled when a cup of coffee was placed on the desk in front of her, followed by a quick kiss to the top of her head.

"Thought you might want a fresh cup." Jack told her and she glanced up at him with a smile of thanks.

"Anything new?" He added and she shook her head, looking back at her screen with a sigh.

"Nope, shouldn't complain though I 'spose, it's not often we have nothing to do." She said with a shrug, reaching forward she grabbed her cup and took a sip before leaning back in her chair.

"Well.." Jack started, waiting for Rose to put her cup back down before turning her chair around to face him.

"I can think of a few things we could do to pass some time." He continued with a smirk, resting his hands on the arms of her chair before leaning forward and capturing her lips in a kiss.

Rose smiled as their lips met, this was something she could definitely get used to.

* * *

It was everyones first day back, aside from Jack and Rose of course. They had all been pretty shaken up after their run in with the cannibals, with some injuries being more psychological than physical. None of them had been in touch throughout their time off which was expected and Rose was eager to check in with them all when they arrived and see how they were. They had always been a pretty close nit team but after going through something like that, they would definitely been looking out for one and other more.

They were due anytime and Rose had planned on being there when they arrived to welcome them back, that was before she had nipped to Jack's office to ask him a simple question. He had been sat at his desk and she'd leaned in to give him a quick peck before heading out into the main area to wait for the others, she should have known better than to start something with Jack if she didn't have the intention of it escalating. That is why she could hardly be surprised by her current position. His desk was starting to dig into her ass as he trailed kisses from her lips down to her throat, the hands she had originally raised to his chest in a half assed attempt to push him away were now curling around his hips to pull him closer. He smirked at her change of heart, bringing his lips back to hers he moved his hands to her hips so he could lift her onto his desk.

The all too familiar sound of the cog wheel door sliding open echoed throughout the hub and the two parted, Rose let out a breath of a laugh as Jack looked at her in annoyance. He took a step back and she offered him a smile.

"Back to business." She said and he nodded with a sigh.

Stepping out from between Jack and his desk she headed for the door but he reached out and grabbed her hand to stop her.

He moved forward and gave her one last quick kiss, he pulled away with a smile and squeezed her hand softly before letting go. She returned the smile and left his office, running a hand through her hair she hoped she didn't look as flustered as she felt.

Wondering over to the main area she caught sight of Ianto already retreating over to his coffee station and followed, it felt like so long since they had spoken properly and not only did she miss her friend but after the events in the countryside she didn't want to risk things being left unsaid and never having the chance to say them.

"Hey Ianto!" Rose called out with a smile.

Ianto looked up from his precious machine and over at Rose, offering her a small smile.

"Morning." He replied before getting back to his task.

She came to stand beside him as he made a start on the coffees, the others would be in shortly so he made sure to put enough on for everyone.

"How've you been?" She asked, knowing it was a pretty stupid question given what they had all been through. She'd had nightmares ever night since, but was lucky to have Jack there to help her through it. As far as she was aware, Ianto had nobody, not since Lisa and she couldn't image how much harder things must be for him.

"Fine." He said simply with a shrug and she sighed.

"Yan it's me, look I know things haven't been the same between us since.." She paused and he glanced at her briefly but remained silent.

"I miss being able to come to you about stuff even Jack wouldn't understand, I miss you being able to talk to me too, I'm sorry I let it go on this long, I was being selfish and I'm sorry." She continued, running a hand through her hair in frustration.

"I miss it too." He said, frowning as he thought about how much he had missed their friendship and how his actions had very nearly cost Rose her life.

"I'm sorry, truly sorry." He added, meeting her eye and hoping she could see just how sorry he was for what he had done and for what he had nearly done.

She stepped forward and the two embraced, second only to Jack, Ianto had been her closet friend since she arrived and their distance had been hard on her.

"Well isn't this cosy, do I get a welcome back hug too?"

Rose rolled her eyes at the voice and they parted, Ianto went back to making the coffees and she looked over at Owen who was watching them with a smirk.

"I'll catch you in a bit Ianto." She told her friend with a smile and he nodded.

"Have a nice few days off?" She asked Owen as she made her way over.

"It was alright, the usual" Owen explained with a shrug and Rose resisted the urge to roll her eyes again.

"Booze and shagging then?" She surmised and he looked almost offended for a moment before a smile tugged at his lips.

"You know me so well Miss Tyler." He told her and she chuckled.

"Mind if I take a look at your wound?" He added, gesturing to her stomach and she nodded.

Jack had helped her change the dressing whilst Owen hadn't been there, since she refused to go to a hospital he'd told her he would keep a check on it to make sure it didn't get infected. He led her through the hub and down to the medical area, she hopped up onto the table whilst he grabbed the necessary equipment.

"How have you been feeling?" Owen asked as she lifted the bottom half of her top to expose the dressing covering her gun shot wound.

"Like I was shot." She told him bluntly and he rolled his eyes.

"Alright smart arse." He said, peeling back the dressing taped over her wound.

Rose flinched at the contact and looked away, it didn't hurt as much now and the painkillers she had been given helped immensely but she couldn't bring herself to look at it as Owen made sure it was clean before grabbing another dressing.

"It's healing nicely, no signs of infection, but you still need to take it easy." He explained as he recovered the wound, she nodded and pulled her shirt back down as he stepped back and offered her a smile.

"Thanks Owen." She said with a smile and he nodded.

She left him to put his things away and headed back upstairs, Jack was standing nearby and she flashed him a smile before resting a hand on her side.

"I'm good to go." She told him with a shrug.

"Not what I said!" Owen shouted up and Rose rolled her eyes.

"I'm _fine_ Jack." She assured him.

Jack had expressed his concern about her going out in the field when she was still injured so she had been banking on Owen giving her the all clear. Apparently not. She sighed and headed off towards her work station, Jack close behind.

"You were shot, you need to take it easy for a while." He told her and she sighed.

She sat down in the chair at her desk, ignoring Jack's intense stare when she winced at the quick movement. She hated being cooped up and hated even more that the others were going to treat her like she wasn't capable just because she had been injured.

He put a hand on her shoulder and gave it a gentle squeeze before he headed off back to his own office. Running a hand through her hair she let out another long sigh before shifting her mouse to activate the screen, if she was going to be put on house arrest then she'd have to find something to keep herself occupied whilst the others were out doing the real work.

* * *

She didn't know how Tosh did it. Aside from the odd occasion, Tosh usually stayed back at the hub whilst the others were out in the field, monitoring cctv and giving them information and directions through their earpieces. Whilst Rose was on house arrest however (she could practically hear Jack roll his eyes every time she used the term), she and Tosh had swapped roles somewhat. When her assistant wasn't required however and she was left twiddling her thumbs whilst the others were off running around the city, she still had Ianto to keep her company. She helped him feed Myfanwy on occasion and it also gave her time to check in with her friend whilst the others weren't around to make sure he was alright. After what had happened with Lisa and then in the countryside she didn't want to risk him feeling like he couldn't open up to them again.

It was starting to feel like groundhog day, Rose loved her job but she hated being cooped up. She wanted to be out in the thick of it with her team and she felt an uncomfortable itch when she wasn't able to. After what felt like a lifetime, and as she was just starting to think she was actually going crazy, she was finally given the all clear as long as she promised to take it easy.

Jack had received a call about a skeleton being found at a construction site alongside an object they couldn't identify, they all grabbed their things before heading out and Rose couldn't help feeling a little excited to finally be back out in the field, even under the circumstances.

* * *

They drove through the construction site and came to a stop outside a tent surrounded by police tape, everyone got out and headed straight inside to where a partially dug up skeleton lay beside an odd metal looking object.

"Just once id like to walk into one of these tents and find a party, y'know with food and drink? People dancing, a girl crying in the corner." Jack thought allowed, kneeling in front of the object he flipped open his wrist device to see if he could identify the origins.

Rose smiled in amusement and came to stand beside him with her arms crossed.

"Is it alien?" She asked, peering over to get a better look.

"And how, I'm getting traces of ilmenite, pyroxine and even dark matter." He explained with a frown.

"Do you have any idea what it is?" Gwen chimed in and he shook his head.

"Not a clue, could be a weapon or a really big stapler." He told her before looking over at the skeleton Owen was examining.

"How's our friend there?" He asked.

"She's dead." Owen deadpanned and Rose rolled her eyes.

"Thanks for that Sherlock." She shot back sarcastically.

"She?" Jack questioned.

"Judging by the size of her skull." Owen summarised.

*How long have they been here Tosh?" Jack asked looking to his technical analyst.

"Judging by the depth they were found, one hundred and ninety six years, eleven to eleven and a half months, the earths been disturbed so i'm afraid I can't be more accurate." She explained.

"So do we think it was the stapler that killed her?" Rose asked and Owen shook his head.

"See those shattered ribs? I'm thinking she was shot." He told her.

"Well, let's get her back to the hub and find out." Jack told his team as he stood, glancing at Rose before leaving the tent.

Rose followed him out and found him waiting for her, flashing him a smile she walked with him back to the suv.

"How're you feeling?" He asked and she sighed.

"_Fine." _She told him.

"I promise." She added, reaching out and giving his hand a quick squeeze.


	23. Chapter 23

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Man, I am a piece of crap. I posted the first part to this episode and had every intention of getting the rest of it up in the coming few days but due to personal factors plus my own lack of muse here we are god only knows how long later. To those who have been waiting on my lazy arse, I apologise. I didn't want to get this up until i had the next part ready too just so I didn't end up dragging it on longer so both parts will be going up simultaneously. You'll be seeing some real progression in Rose and Jack's relationship from here on so let me know what you think, anything you'd like to see in upcoming chapters just let me know.
> 
> Thanks!

**Chapter 23**

**Greeks Bearing Gifts Part 2**

Rose was sitting at her desk watching the scene unfold in front of her in mild amusement, she was used to seeing Owen act like a child but was surprised by Gwen who usually came across quite serious. The pair were currently arguing about Owen's ability or rather _inability _according to Gwen to play sports, it was all in good nature so Rose decided to sit back and leave them to it. That was until he offered to show her, Rose's amusement quickly turned to mild alarm when she passed him a football lying around nearby.

"You sure that's a good idea?" Rose asked, leaning back in her chair and looking over at them with a frown.

"Don't be the fun police Rose." He shot back and she rolled her eyes, not missing the small smirk that crossed Gwen's face.

They really were like a pair of kids sometimes and she couldn't help but think Owen was playing up his antics as a way of impressing Gwen.

"Fine, but don't come moaning to me when you break something." She told him with a shrug before turning back to her computer.

"As I was saying." He started, giving Gwen a wink as he prepared to show her his 'moves'.

It wasn't long before a crash was heard and Rose wasn't surprised in the slightest, looking over in the direction the sound had come from she sighed.

"Don't start." Owen called out before she had a chance to say anything.

"I wasn't going to say anything." She told him innocently, but couldn't hide her smug 'i told you so' smirk.

He had been trying to show Gwen his football skills, there wasn't exactly a lot of spare room for him to have a proper kick about so he had decided to try and impress her with kick ups. Unfortunately he had underestimated the force and had ended up kicking the ball across the general area and into Tosh's desk. The force had knocked the power cable out of her computer, ceasing any current programs or projects she was working on before she had headed out to grab some lunch.

"Might wanna get it fixed before she gets back though." She added and Owen shot her a glare.

"Yeah, thanks for that." He shot back.

He and Gwen made their way over to Tosh's desk to assess the damage they had caused, neither were exactly whizz's when it came to computers so what may have been an easy fix looked way more complicated to them. Rose considered offering them a hand but it appeared they were having more fun with just the two of them, attempting to fix the computer quickly turned to them goofing off with random items they found under Tosh's desk. The two had seemed to grow close since the events in the countryside, Rose knew that Gwen had a boyfriend but she also knew what it was like to not be able to share something with loved ones, it had taken its toll on her and she could only imagine what it was doing to Gwen. It was clear that she was confiding in Owen with things she couldn't tell her boyfriend and Rose would be a hypocrite to judge her when she had done the exact same thing when she had first started travelling with The Doctor.

They were still attempting to fix the computer by the time Tosh arrived back at the hub, Rose had gone back to her task but upon hearing Tosh enter the hub she glanced up from her work and waited for the situation to unfold.

Owen and Gwen had about as much subtly as two bulls in a china shop as they got up and stepped away from Tosh's desk when they saw her approaching.

"Sorry but I think your computer might be dead." Owen told her as she made her way over.

"You're joking, what happened?" Tosh questioned, walking over to her desk and trying to activate the many monitors to no avail.

"So, she said I was no good at sport, I mean hello? So I said throw something to me.." He started, gesturing to Gwen who looked back at Tosh with a guilty half smile.

"I meant what happened to the computer!" Tosh snapped.

Rose had never seen Tosh angry before and as she watched the exchange between her and the others she made a mental note to never get on her bad side.

"Oh, I sort of kicked the plug out." He explained.

"I was running a translation program id written, id collated every scrap of alien language we've got and broken it down into binary threads to see if there was a common derivation." She told them, her voice raised and full of frustration as she turned all of her monitors back on.

"That's a bit of a mouthful." He mumbled, glancing over at Gwen who sniggered before noticing Tosh's glare and sobering up.

"Sorry, private joke, er stupid joke." She said, looking away awkwardly before creating some distance between herself and Owen.

"We're supposed to be professionals, we have a job to do!" Tosh snapped again, looking between the pair with a frown.

"You're right, I'm sorry Tosh." Gwen told her colleague, suddenly feeling very small under the intense glare of the older woman. She looked over at Owen and even glanced at Rose before she wondered off without another word.

Rose remained silent throughout the exchange, she knew Tosh was angry and couldn't blame the woman but she also couldn't help but think some of her anger was stemmed from jealously of the pair and not fully because of her computer. She had seen the way Tosh looked at Owen sometimes, something that went unnoticed by him and she felt sorry for the woman. She also felt a bit sorry for Gwen who as a result got the brunt of Tosh's frustrations.

Owen watched Gwen leave before taking a step forward, looking at Tosh with a frown.

"Y'know what Tosh, sometimes I think even that stick up your arse, has a stick up its arse." He told her before following after Gwen.

Rose resisted the urge to look over and tried to concentrate back on her work, she could feel Tosh's gaze burning into the back of her head and she willed her not to mention anything, she got on with all of the team most of the time and she really didn't want to get involved in drama that didn't concern her.

* * *

The rest of the day went by fairly smoothly, Gwen and Owen did their best to avoid Tosh after the football incident whilst she spent the remaining few hours trying to recover what had been lost when they had kicked out the power plug. Everyone was finished by a reasonable hour and Rose was hardly surprised when Gwen and Owen left together, Tosh had been in a sour mood since the incident and made her quiet exit shortly after the pair. It was just Jack, Rose and Ianto left in the hub, Jack was in his office, Rose was finishing up a report and Ianto was doing his rounds clearing up any mess accumulated throughout the day. Rose finished her job for the day and shut down her computer, she stood from her desk and headed over to Jacks office, offering Ianto a smile as she passed by.

"Hey." She called out as she leaned against the door frame of Jack's office.

Jack looked up from the folder he had been flipping through and gave Rose a smile when he saw her watching him, closing the folder he leaned back in his chair.

"Everyone gone home?" He asked and she shook her head.

"Ianto's still here." She told him with a smile, walking into the office she perched herself on the edge of his desk.

He nodded and reached out to take one of her hands.

"Have you noticed a difference in Gwen and Owen lately?" She asked rather out of the blue.

"Different how?" He questioned with a frown.

"They just seem to be a lot closer recently." She said with a shrug.

"Can't say I pay enough attention to my employees to notice." He told her before adding.

"Most of my employees anyway." He said with a wink and she rolled her eyes.

"Isn't there some rule against employer employee relationships?" She asked with a smirk and he chuckled.

"Never have been good at following the rules." He told her simply, tugging on her hand she stood from her perch and glanced back at the door before letting him pull her in his lap.

"Ianto could walk in any minute." She told him, though made no attempt to get back up as he slipped an arm around her waist.

He brought his other hand to her cheek and she pressed a gentle kiss to his lips before pulling away with a smile.

"I know me ending up here wasn't the plan, but I'm really glad things turned out the way they did." She said after a beat and he couldn't stop the goofy smile crossing his lips.

"Me too, Rosie." He told her, leaning forward he captured her lips in another kiss. He knew what she had given up by deciding to stick around instead of trying to fix her machine, up until that point he had always felt like a consolation prize despite their closeness and he had never blamed her for that. He felt like the luckiest man in the world, and would never take for granted the gift he had been given in the form of Rose Tyler.

* * *

Tosh arrived at the hub the next day with her new gift, she slipped on the pendant as she stepped through the entrance and her mind was instantly filled with the thoughts of her colleagues.

_What the hell would produce such a perfect circular puncture, maybe some kind of wooden stake?_

Owen wondered up from the med bay and offered Tosh a nod of acknowledgement as he passed.

_She better not go on about the stupid computer again._

"Morning Tosh." He called out as he sat down at his desk.

_Sergeant giving it all 'Oh Gwennie has deigned to call her old mates' should put a weevil in his bathroom._

"Morning!" She called out to Tosh with a smile.

"I've got something to show you." Tosh told them.

"What've you got Tosh?" Rose called out as she appeared from the direction of Jack's office, she offered the woman a smile as she made her way over to the group.

_I wonder if I can convince Jack to send everyone off early tonight, or maybe I can get him to come down to the vault.._

Rose's smile fell and was replaced with a frown, she felt something prodding at her mind, like something or _someone _was trying to get into her head. She hadn't felt anything like it since her run in with Cassandra in New New York. She glanced around at the others and met Tosh's gaze as the woman was looking back at her with an expression similar to her own, offering her friend a quick smile she tried to brush off the feeling as coincidence.

"You alright?" She asked and after a moment Tosh nodded, offering her a smile in return.

"Yeah, I er, I found this thing." She began but paused when more thoughts filled her mind.

_What she talking about? She can be dead weird sometimes, wonder what she'd be like in bed, Catholic but grateful I bet._

"Ok.. I don't know if this falls under actually technology but," Another pause.

_I can smell Owen, I can smell him on me after that shag in his car this morning, that's twice now, it shouldn't have happened but I just can't help it, the things he can do with those hands, I just.._

_When she did that thing, when she ran her tongue across my teeth, I should have worn different jeans, I'm gonna have to sit down until this subsides a bit._

Tosh pulled the pendant from around her neck, glancing around at the others she found them waiting for her to elaborate on what it was she had brought in to show them. She wished there was some way to erase what she had just heard, she shook her head in disgust at herself for hearing it and offered them a shrug before sighing.

"I just found an article, i'll bring it in tomorrow." She told them after another moment.

"Right, thanks." Owen muttered before getting back to his original task.

"You sure you're alright Tosh?" Rose asked, giving her a curious glance and she simply nodded before heading off to her desk without another word.

_Well, that was.. weird._

_Great, thanks for that rambling trip to nowhere Tosh._


	24. Chapter 24

**Chapter 24**

**Greeks Bearing Gifts Part 3**

Rose could not remember the last time she had laughed so much, it had all started when Owen had gone over his findings again when he arrived at a dead end, after doing further checks he had found some of his initial findings to have been incorrect. This had led to the current situation.

Owen was stood beside the skeleton, a permanent frown fixed onto his face as Gwen stood above and tried to dodge the items he was throwing at her, all the while singing a song about connecting bones.

"Stop singing." He begged, throwing another wrapped bandage at her.

"Please, stop singing." Another bandage hit her which only made her sing louder.

Rose lay her head against Jack's shoulder as she tried to control her laughter, Owen turned to them with a glare and threw the remaining packets in their direction.

"I don't know what you two are laughing at." He called out as they tried to dodge his attack.

"Hey!" Rose shot back, picking up some of the makeshift ammo before throwing it back at him with a laugh.

"Whats going on?" Tosh chimed in as she wondered over to join the group.

"Y'know the skeleton we found at the building site?" Gwen said once she had managed to contain her laughter, to which Tosh nodded.

"Well, Amanda Burton here has just completed the post mortem." She told her with a smirk.

"I can explain." Owen chimed in but Gwen cut him off.

"As you may remember, at the building site, Owen said this was a woman who was killed by a single gun shot." She continued.

"I'd been there like a minute." He called out in defence.

"Since then, he's had to tweak some of his initial conclusions, the first being that this isn't in fact a woman, but a man." She announced and Owen rolled his eyes.

"A young man, a very girly man." He told Tosh who nodded as she was filled in.

"But still ultimately a man." Gwen confirmed.

"Then there was the cause of death, Owen said GSW, well that was also wrong, the correct answer was." She trailed off and looked to Owen to fill in the blank, much to the amusement of everyone else.

"Unidentified trauma." He said.

"It's the sort of thing you see in RTA's when something like a steering column or a post goes into a body at great velocity." She explained.

"But there was one thing that could be ruled out, Owen?" Another smirk crossed her lips as she waited him to deliver the final nail.

"Gun shot wound." He said with a sigh.

"Was there any part of your prognosis that was correct?" Rose asked which earned her a glare.

"I got that it was a, skeleton." He told her in a matter of fact tone.

She let out a burst of laughter at his answer before nodding, it took her a moment to compose herself before she offered him a sympathetic smile.

"Yes you did! Well done." She congratulated him sarcastically and he rolled his eyes.

Jack chose that moment to make his exit, he rested a hand against Rose's back briefly and she offered him a smile before he wondered off to make a phone call. Tosh noticed the interaction and recalled what she had heard Rose thinking earlier in the day, she feared what would happen when they realised what she had done, especially when she had inadvertently invaded her boss' privacy too. She followed after Jack in hopes of finding out more about the pendant and left the two women to continue their onslaught of Owen's reputation.

"Where did you train?" Gwen questioned as she wondered along the deck above the med bay.

"Did you even train?" Rose chimed in, walking forward and leaning on the railing to look over down at Owen with a smirk.

"I did train, yeah." He told them with a shrug and she rolled her eyes.

"Absolutely useless." She said with dramatised exasperation.

* * *

Tosh had been acting off ever since they had found the skeleton at the building site, she wasn't one for letting others in when she had things going on in her personal life but those who had noticed made a point of keeping a closer eye on her just in case they felt the need to intervene. When she failed to turn up to work the next day, Jack knew that whatever was going on with her was reaching its climax.

There had been an alert when Tosh arrived via the visitor centre, much to their surprise she wasn't alone. Jack told the others to make themselves scarce and he grabbed the 'stapler' before doing the same.

Tosh led her friend through the hub, grateful that no one else seemed to be around but curious all the same. She walked over to the station where they had been keeping the object they found at the construction sight and frowned when she found it to no longer be there.

"Wait here, I'm gonna find my boss, he has it." She told Mary before glancing around to see if she could catch sight of Jack.

"Looking for this?" A voice called out from above.

The two women followed the sound to find Jack standing on the walkway with the object in his hands, Tosh watched nervously as he made his way along the platform.

"A friend of mine, let's call him Vincent, that was his name after all, regular guy, girlfriend, likes his sport, likes a beer, starts acting a little strange, a little distracted, suddenly he disappears for a few months." He began, watching them carefully with a frown he continued to make his way along towards the stairs.

"He comes back and we've gotta start calling him Vanessa, since then I've always been a little nervous when a friend acts out of character." He continued, descending the stairs ad stopping at the bottom to offer Tosh's friend a smile.

"We haven't been introduced, Jack Harkness, my guess is you're not from around these parts." He told her, his voice taking on a southern twang as he introduced himself.

"This is incredible, do you know what it is?" He asked, gesturing to the object he held.

"It's a transporter, Mary was a political prisoner, she was exiled here, look Jack.." Tosh chimed in before being cut off by Jack.

"You're half right, but you wanna tell her the really interesting bit Mary? It is Mary isn't it?" He addressed Tosh's friend, who looked back in silence.

"No? Chatty isn't she? I don't know how you got a word in edgeways Tosh." He said, looking back to Tosh.

"It's a two man transporter, or whatever you may be, could be squid for all I know, a two _squid _transporter, room for one prisoner and one guard, wanna tell us what happened to the guard Mary?" He switched his gaze back to Mary who finally spoke up.

"I killed him." She told them with a shrug.

"But I was interrupted." She added.

The cog door slid closed and the rest of the team appeared as Mary told them her story, how she came to inhabit the body she now had, how she had been surviving off the hearts of innocent humans ever since she had arrived on Earth all those years prior. So many innocent victims.

"And you've been killing ever since." Rose surmised and Mary nodded.

"I knew they might come a time when my situation here would become complicated, but I was safe as long as I knew where the transporter was." She explained with a shrug.

"Then the machine was uncovered." Jack chimed in.

"As soon as the air touched its surface I could feel it, I went back to get it but you'd beaten me to it, that's when I found my beautiful Toshiko." She continued, looking at Tosh with a smile.

No one had noticed when Tosh put the pendant back on but her mind was instantly filled with the fearful thoughts of her colleagues.

_She's so calm, she isn't even scared of us._

_What the hell are we doing? We're just talking to her._

_I'm gonna go for it._

Tosh looked over at Owen in a panic as his thoughts crossed her mind.

"Owen, no!" She called out but Mary was too fast, she had moved before Owen even had a chance and grabbed Tosh from behind, holding a knife to her throat.

"Toshiko tell them to give me the transporter." Mary said calmly, pressing the knife against her skin.

"Let her go!" Jack called out as Tosh struggled against her grip.

_This is pointless, we're just shouting at her._

_What do we do? That knife will tear Tosh's throat out._

_Not again, we can't lose anyone else._

"You, how's this." Mary started with a grin, looking over at Owen.

"I'll exchange Toshiko for that one, your choice." She offered, gesturing over to where Gwen was standing.

_No, no not Gwen._

"Just put the knife down." Owen pleaded, raising his hands in defence.

"Did you hear him, he didn't want to did he?" She spoke into Tosh's ear.

_She read my thoughts._

_What happened? Did he not want to?_

_What did he say?_

"That's what they think of you, these are the people you've been working with for all these years." She continued, her soft voice feeding doubt into Tosh's mind.

"Don't listen to her Tosh, it's not true." Rose told her.

"But we have a connection, whatever I've done doesn't change the way I feel about you, what we have is real." Mary said calmly.

_Toshiko, don't move, don't do anything until I say._

"You want a transporter? Well we want Toshiko, I'd say that's a fair trade?" Jack offered, holding up the transporter.

_What the hell is he thinking? He can't seriously be letting her go._

_He's gotta be bluffing, that thing can't still work._

Mary considered his offer for a moment before letting Tosh go, she stepped forward and reached out to take the transporter from Jack.

"You smell.. different to them, what are you?" She asked with a curious frown.

Rose shot a glare in Mary's direction as she watched the exchange, this _really_ wasn't the time for jealously to start rearing its head but she couldn't help it.

"I don't know." He told her simply and she smirked.

"And you would have put me in a cage." She observed.

Jack activated the transporter and took a step back, watching the smirk fade and be replaced by a look of confusion.

"What's happening?" She asked.

"I reprogrammed it for you, it's set to enable." He told her, a smug edge in his tone.

He moved further away as a bright light surrounded Mary before she and the device both disappeared.

"About now." He added with a satisfied smirk.

"Has she gone home?" Tosh asked and he shook his head.

"Where did you send her?" She questioned.

"I reset the coordinates to the centre of the sun, it shouldn't be hot, I mean we sent her there at night and everything." He explained with a shrug.

"So you killed her." She deadpanned and he looked her in the eye with an expression she couldn't read.

"Yes." He said bluntly before turning and walking away without another word.

* * *

Ianto had accompanied Tosh to the conference room for a short while after Mary's departure, having lost his own girlfriend a few months prior he could offer her comfort and understanding the others wouldn't be able to. She'd had a brief discussion with Gwen and Owen regarding what she had heard whilst wearing the pendant before then speaking with Jack. Rose had decided against seeking Tosh out for a chat, she wasn't even sure what she would say to her. She wanted to comfort her friend, but she also couldn't shake off the feeling of betrayal. She had invaded their minds without their knowledge and given herself access to thoughts that would never be said out loud, personal thoughts that she no right to privy herself to.

Rose had decided to hide out in Jack's office until he returned from his talk with Tosh, having Tosh poking around her head had given her a headache and she was looking forward to the day being over. Leaning back in Jack's chair she brought her feet up to rest on his desk and closed her eyes, there was nothing left to do so she hoped the others would send themselves off and not bother her whilst she attempted to get a few minutes peace.

"Comfy?"

She cracked an eye open at the voice and offered the visitor a small smile.

"I was, and then this guy came in and decided to interrupt." She said and received a chuckle in response.

"This is my office." Jack told her with a smile as he walked further into the room.

She took her feet off his desk and held out her hand, he reached forward and grabbed her hand before pulling her up from the seat. Stepping forward, she slipped her arms around his middle and his went around her shoulders before he pressed a kiss to the top of her head.

"You ok?" He asked and she nodded.

"mhmm, Tosh alright?" She asked back.

"She'll be fine." He assured her and she nodded again.

"Can she still hear peoples thoughts?" She continued and he shook his head.

"Not anymore, the pendant has been destroyed so her temporary abilities are gone." He explained.

"Good, are the others still here?" She asked.

"I sent them all home, figured we could all benefit from an early night." He told her and she smiled, it had been a long few days whilst trying to figure out who the skeleton was and what the object was and everything had come to a head at such a speed it made her head spin. She was relieved that it was all finally over.


End file.
